The Way it Should Have Been
by thehobbitgirl
Summary: AU. The way Harry's life would have gone if Voldermort had chosen differently. Follows the book closely. Second Year Started! YEAH!
1. Diagon Alley

Disclaimer: I, in no shape, way or form, own Harry Potter. If I did, most of the male characters would be my slaves. HEHE! The only things that belong to be are the stories, the other Marauder kids and wives. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.  
  
The Way It Should Have Been  
  
"Get up Harry!" Lily Potter yelled from the large lightly yellow colored kitchen. She had been yelling at her only child for the past ten minutes. 'I go through this every morning!'  
  
"Morning pretty." James Potter said from behind her. He wrapped his arms around his wife's waist and pulled her towards him. She smiled as he kissed her neck.  
  
"Morning baby. Is Harry even moving?" She began to scramble the eggs around before flipping several large fluffy pancakes.  
  
"I don't think so. Want me to get him up?" James's brown eyes sparkled and his usually messy hair looked a little bit more tame this morning.  
  
"Please. I've been yelling at him for the past ten minutes." He chuckled and kissed his lovely wife on the cheek.  
  
"One Jr. Marauder coming right up." He ran up the stairs, two at a time, as Lily rolled her bright emerald eyes. Her fire red hair was tied back into a ponytail with her short bangs dangling above her eyebrows.  
  
"Just like his father." She muttered turning the bacon over.  
  
James crept down the hallway to his son's bedroom. He slightly pushed it open to see a large bed, it's covers and sheets strewn all over the bed in messy piles. Harry hated being hot. He grinned wider as he slipped in and stood before his son. Harry's room was a good size with plenty of stuff any wizard boy would want. The blinds shut out the bright early August sun, making the room dark instead of it's normal green hue. Posters were all over the walls of Harry's favorite bands and Quidditch teams. All over his bookshelf were pictures of Harry and his three best-friends: the kids of the four Marauders. James chuckled at the picture of the four Jr. Marauders, each one identical to his or her father. James turned back towards his son.  
  
"WAKE UP HARRY!" he shouted before pouncing on his son. Harry shot out of the bed and landed on the floor with a hard and loud thump.  
  
"OW Dad! My bum's going be sore all day now!" Harry groaned, falling against the bed. He winced before grabbing his glasses off the bedside table.  
  
"Then you should get up when your mother tells you to." He gave Harry a stern look who looked reprimanded, before the identical looking father and son broke into handsome grins. "Come on up!" He hauled Harry to his feet and held him at shoulder length away. "Get dressed and come down for breakfast. We're going to get your Hogwarts stuff today." Harry nodded excitedly.  
  
"Are the others coming?" James nodded as Harry whooped and ran around his room gathering a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He pulled them on and ran down stairs, followed closely by his father. They ran into the kitchen and James sat at the large oak table, picking up the Daily Prophet. Harry kissed his mother on the cheek before sitting down next to his father. Lily turned to them and smiled. They both looked so cute sitting there with their glasses and messy raven black hair. They smiled back and Lily put the pile of pancakes down on the table before turning around and putting the eggs and bacon on the table as well.  
  
"Hurry up and eat. We want to get there on time today." James grinned as he remembered the last time they had gone to Diagon Alley to meet the other Marauders. The Potters had been an hour late, because James had tried to get his hair to look half way decent.  
  
Harry nodded and began to scarf down his food while James looked on in pride. "Not that fast! You'll make yourself sick!" Harry sighed and rolled his eyes.  
  
"Mum! Make up your mind!" James snorted into his coffee as Lily glared at him.  
  
"Harry don't talk to your mother like that." James said, knowing that he was supposed to say that.  
  
"Yes dad." Lily nodded at her husband in thanks. He smiled, leaned up and kissed her. Harry gagged.  
  
"I'm done! Can we go now?" Lily nodded before grabbing his school list. James finished his coffee and they went into the family room. James lit a fire and they each grabbed a handful of Floo Powder and the next thing they knew they were in Diagon Alley. Harry grinned excitedly and started to make his way through the large crowd of children and their parents.  
  
"Harry! Stay with us until we find the others!" Lily told him, grabbing his shirt collar and pulling his back towards her and James. He rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. Together they made their way towards Ollivander's. They waited outside before they heard a loud:  
  
"JAMES!!!!" They turned and saw the Black family coming towards them. Sirius Black, handsome with dark brown hair, great tan (and body) and cheery blue eyes and his son Adrian, the exact replica of his father, except a lot shorter. Diane Black was a tall, thin woman with long blonde hair and soft hazel eyes. She and Lily smiled before embracing, talking rapidly. James and Sirius grinned stupidly before grabbing hands, pulling one another towards each other and beating each other on the back. Harry and Adrian did the secret Jr. Marauder handshake as they smiled.  
  
"Have you seen the Lupins or Pettigrews anywhere?" James asked them. Sirius nodded.  
  
"Saw Wormtail about ten minutes ago. No sign of Moony." James nodded as the two continued to talk about the office and such. As their mothers continued to talk, Adrian and Harry matched glares and a silent agreement was made. They both slowly inched away, hoping to lose their parents. When they got about a foot away with out any sign from their parents they turned and attempted to sprint away.  
  
"Don't even think about it." Diane told the two. They groaned, turned and stared at their mothers.  
  
"Mum please! Just to the Quidditch store?" Adrian pleaded.  
  
"NO!" Lily said. "First years can't be on the House Team anyway."  
  
"DAD!" Harry begged. They turned eyes towards their fathers who looked sad at the fact that they didn't get away. But they both looked happy to agree but one look from their wives said otherwise.  
  
"Wait till the others get here okay boys?" James said. They sighed unhappily, but agreed. They turned away as their parents resumed their conversation.  
  
"We have to get out of here!" Adrian whispered to his partner in crime.  
  
"I know, but how?"  
  
"Wish Kat was here." Harry nodded at the mention of one of their best- friends. She was the one who came up for all their clever ideas, even thought the boys took most of the blame every time they got caught.  
  
"REMUS LUPIN YOU ARE LATE!" Sirius shouted across the many heads, several at which turned around.  
  
"I am not. I'm four minutes early! I'm surprised you beat me!" Remus said, stepping in front of his two taller friends. Remus had light auburn hair with several gray strands. He had amber colored eyes that glittered. He didn't look as pale and fragile as he had in school because he worked with Sirius and James, who made sure he had a job. Not many people want to hire a werewolf. His wife helped to keep him fed as well.  
  
"Why Callista could it be you got more lovely than last I saw you?" Sirius cooed over Remus's wife. She was shorter than Remus, but still tall with light blonde hair and dark blue eyes.  
  
"What do you want?" she responded.  
  
"As if I need anything!" they laughed as Harry and Adrian rolled their eyes.  
  
"You two shouldn't roll your eyes all the time." Came a sweet voice from behind them. They turned to see Katarina Lupin, long auburn hair pulled back into a half ponytail. Her amber eyes glittered. Adrian blushed slightly at the sight of the beautiful girl.  
  
"Kat! So good to see you!" Harry exclaimed, throwing his arms around her. She went stiff before he whispered in her ear:  
  
"Please think of someway we can escape!" She sighed.  
  
"Why not wait until the Pettigrews get here?"  
  
"They always come late!" Adrian countered.  
  
"PLEASE!" They begged together.  
  
"Alright, alright! I'll think of something." Harry let go and so nothing looked suspicious, Adrian went to hug her. They both looked embarrassed, but hugged anyway. Harry snickered.  
  
"WORMTAIL!" They turned to see the Pettigrews slowly making their way towards them. Peter was a short, overweight, pointy faced man with light blonde hair and beady hazel eyes. His wife, Jennifer, was a short plump woman with light brown hair and large blue eyes. Their daughter, Sarah, followed slowly, taking in everything with her hazel eyes. Her blonde hair was braided into pigtails.  
  
Peter smiled at his friends. "We're on time today." James and Sirius gave each other evil looks before coming to stand on either side of Peter. Jennifer rolled her eyes before coming to stand by the other Marauder wives. Remus laughed as he joined his friends. Sarah did the same with hers.  
  
"Guess you don't have to think of anything now Kat." Harry said, elbowing her. She smiled and hugged Sarah.  
  
"Feel any better Sarah?" The short and plump girl nodded.  
  
"Yeah, I got over my cold a few days ago." Her voice was quiet and small, making her hard to understand. She was always getting a cough, or cold, or something.  
  
"You have no immune system." Adrian said. Harry laughed, before covering it up with a cough at Kat's disapproving look.  
  
"You four!" Remus said walking over, followed by the Marauders. The wives had all disappeared to the herb store.  
  
"Stop conspiring so we can go get your wands." James finished. Sirius laughed.  
  
"Very funny Prongs. Like they would conspire."  
  
"How'd you figure out we were conspiring against you?" Harry asked.  
  
"Yeah! We're planning a mutiny!" Katarina cut in. The four father's mouths dropped open.  
  
"Were you spying on us?" Adrian finished. Sarah nodded.  
  
"What?" Peter gasped out.  
  
"HAHA! YOU FELL FOR IT!" They shouted together. The four Jr. Marauders walked inside the old store, laughing all the way. Their fathers followed in a few seconds, whispering quietly.  
  
"Ah! Seems like yesterday I was in here." Sirius said, draping his arm around Adrian's shoulder.  
  
"Yeah, good times." Remus agreed, looking around. "Mr. Ollivander!" A man with white hair rolled around the corner on a wheeled stool.  
  
"Good day! Wands?"  
  
"For the four young ones!" Peter squeaked.  
  
"I remember when everyone of you came in here." The four mentioned beamed. "I suppose you hope the four of them will be as mischievous as you were?" The elders laughed.  
  
"One can only hope." James answered. The kids grinned evilly.  
  
"We won't let you guys down." Harry promised.  
  
"We knew you won't. You're our children. You've been trained for the next seven years." Sirius responded, acting like a teacher.  
  
"Well who will go first?" Mr. Ollivander asked.  
  
"I will!" Adrian volunteered. Mr. Ollivander smiled and beckoned him forward, before measuring him. As he showed Adrian five or six wands, the others watched in fascination. Finally sparks went out of the wand.  
  
"A 13 in. cedar wand with a dragon heartstring. Good choice for Sirius Black's son." Adrian beamed as he held his wand, admiring it.  
  
"I'm next!" Harry said.  
  
"What happened to ladies first?" Sirius whispered to his friends. Mr. Ollivander measured Harry and they tried five wands before the wand sparked.  
  
"11 in. holly wood wand with a phoenix feather. Most noble." Harry smiled and he and Adrian looked at each other's wands.  
  
"Go on Sarah." Peter coaxed his daughter. Since graduating school he had gained more confidence, or still was. She tried eight wands after getting measured. Finally the one in her hand sent off sparks.  
  
"10 in. birch wood with a mermaid hair. Interesting." Sarah smiled before wishing Kat luck. She stepped forth and got measured. Her second wand sent sparks up.  
  
"Only two!" Remus mused out loud.  
  
"No gloating Lupin." Peter mused back.  
  
"A 11 ½ in. willow wand. With a unicorn hair." She smiled brightly before joining the others.  
  
"A unicorn? You must be very pure." Adrian laughed.  
  
"Unicorns are my favorite creatures! Or one of them." She countered, blushing slightly. Remus nudged her slightly and she smiled. The others laughed.  
  
The eight of them continued around Diagon Alley, gathering the rest of what the kids needed.  
  
"Where did the mothers go?" Sarah asked.  
  
"Femine shopping." Sirius answered.  
  
"Boring!" James responded.  
  
"Excuse me?" Kat asked, turning with her hands on her hips. They both stopped and bowed.  
  
"So sorry your majesty!" James said.  
  
"Please forgive us!" Sirius begged. She rubbed her chin.  
  
"This time I shall I suppose." Sirius and James grinned.  
  
"So like a Lupin! Everyone worshipping your feet!" Sirius grinned nudging Remus.  
  
"Funny. I seem to remember in school everyone worshipping you two." They laughed.  
  
"Well now it's the four Jr. Marauders." James exclaimed. He looked around for a few seconds. "Besides they'll be Gryffindors. Everyone likes the Gryffindors."  
  
"Besides the Slytherins." Remus added.  
  
"Who cares about them? All they're good for is becoming Death Eaters and killing innocent people!" Sirius muttered angrily.  
  
"Poor Frank and Alice." Peter said.  
  
"Who?" Sarah asked.  
  
"They were the other Gryffindors in our year. We were the closest Gryffindor year. They were the parents of Neville Longbottom." Remus explained.  
  
"The Boy who defeated Vold..." Harry started.  
  
"Harry! Just because we're not afraid to say his name doesn't mean other wizards aren't!" His father scolded.  
  
"Sorry dad. I forgot." James nodded.  
  
"Now where'd the little women go?" he asked.  
  
"They said they were going to buy some new cooking and housekeeping books." Peter said.  
  
"How come they tell you everything?" Sirius whined.  
  
"He's the only one they trust." James answered.  
  
"So why not tell Remus?" Sirius asked.  
  
"Peter is the only one who would tell." James finished.  
  
"I would tell!" Remus exclaimed.  
  
"Then...I don't know!" The four Jr. Marauders rolled their eyes.  
  
"Are we gonna end up like this in twenty years?" Adrian asked.  
  
"Hope not!" Sarah said.  
  
"Of course we are!" Harry exclaimed, looking defended. "We are the children of the Marauders, just about to head to Hogwarts. We are to wreak havoc as our fathers did and to uphold our family honors!" He finished, with his hand over his heart.  
  
"Harry you have issues." Adrian said, shaking his head. His chin length dark brown hair was loose as usual and he rolled his sparkling blue eyes.  
  
"Yeah and several different kinds." Kat added. Harry sighed and dropped his hand. Kat and Adrian shook hands.  
  
"Here's the bookshop!" Peter said.  
  
"Thank you Mr. Obvious." Sirius muttered. The others snickered.  
  
"Well are we going in or not?" Katarina asked.  
  
"Of course. Your mother's should be in here." Remus answered her. He opened the door and went in, followed by the others. Sirius and James went off to look for them.  
  
"Stay together and stay in the front of the store." Remus told them. They nodded before he and Peter left them as well.  
  
"So where shall we go?" Adrian asked.  
  
"Somewhere in the back of the store." Katarina offered.  
  
"Or we should split up." Harry added.  
  
"I prefer doing what we're told." Sarah said.  
  
"You can't live doing what you're told!" Adrian exclaimed, throwing his arms into the air.  
  
"I'm going to the back. Anyone care to join me?" Harry said. Adrian and Katarina nodded and followed Harry to the back of the store. Sarah sighed before joining them. They walked along the back of the store reading the titles.  
  
"I bet most of these are in the Restricted Section of the library at Hogwarts." Katarina said.  
  
"Yeah." Adrian agreed. "Wonder if the dads are looking for us."  
  
"Probably." Harry said from the next aisle.  
  
"Then we should go back!" Sarah whined.  
  
"Oh Sarah! Stop being so un-Marauder like." Katarina said. She held up a silver book. "Oh! Look! Shiny!" Adrian laughed and she put the book back.  
  
"Katarina!" Callista shouted. Kat blanched before turning towards her mother.  
  
"Hi mum!" She said.  
  
"I can not believe you disobeyed your father!" Katarina looked offended.  
  
"I didn't expect her to do what I said." He said lightly, winking at his daughter and hugging his wife from behind. "Calm down. It's fine. I knew where'd they be. Right where I told them not to go." Callista sighed and relaxed. "Come on you four. Your parents are looking for you." He and Callista led the way while the kids followed.  
  
"It's the mother's turn now!" Sirius told them.  
  
"What else do we need?" Harry asked. He looked at his list that his dad gave him.  
  
"Robes." His mother said. "Come on you four. We'll meet your dads in a couple of hours then we'll go out for dinner." The kids smiled before waving bye to the fathers. The mothers herded them to Madam Malkin's. They stepped in, chatting happily.  
  
"Good day! Robes for Hogwarts?" asked a squat witch the seemed to like to smile. They nodded and the witch clapped and another witch appeared. "Who'll be first?"  
  
"Sarah and Katarina." Adrian said. The witches smiled before showing the group to the back of the store. Another boy was on one stool getting measured. Sarah got on the stool and the smiling witch started to pin a robe for her. The other witch got a stool and Katarina stepped onto it, letting the witch pin the robe. The wives sat on two couches while the boys talked to the girls.  
  
"Isn't that your cousin Adrian?" Katarina asked. The guys turned to see a small and thin boy getting his robes made. He had pale blonde hair and gray blue eyes. His face was pointed and very pale.  
  
Adrian flinched. "Third cousin to be precise." Harry snorted in laughter.  
  
"Third?"  
  
"Yeah! Dad is his mum's cousin, so he and Dad are second cousins. Making us third. Even if he is our age."  
  
"He's eleven?" Katarina asked in surprise. Adrian nodded.  
  
"You're done." The witch told Sarah. She stepped down and let Harry onto her stool. Katarina was done in a few seconds and Adrian stepped up.  
  
"Hello Adrian." The boy drawled in a bored voice.  
  
"Hello Draco." Adrian answered. Katarina sighed, before paying the witch for the robes. The others did and then they left.  
  
"Draco? Dragon?" Katarina asked.  
  
"Or snake." Adrian answered. "He is with out a doubt a Slytherin."  
  
"You're probably right Adrian. Both his parents were." His mother said. They walked towards the Leaky Cauldron. The dads were inside, drinking a toast.  
  
"Guess who was in Madame Malkin's?" Adrian asked Sirius.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Draco."  
  
"NO!" Mother and son nodded.  
  
"Probably buying stuff, like everyone else!" Remus said.  
  
"But they're evil!" Peter protested.  
  
"They should be shopping in Knockturn Alley, not Diagon Alley." Sirius muttered to James as they sipped their drinks.  
  
"Can we not let this spoil our day? They saw him, that's all!" Lily cried.  
  
"Really. Let's go eat dinner and enjoy the lovely evening!" Jennifer suggested as the other women nodded. The kids watched with fascination, before beginning to trade their wizard cards from all their chocolate frogs.  
  
"Yeah. Good idea." Sirius finally muttered, downing his butterbeer. The other fathers did the same before they paid and left the pub.  
  
"No need to let it spoil the day." Diane said, taking Sirius's arm. The couple led the rest of the wizarding group into muggle London. Lily and the Pettigrew's finishing leading the way to a nice London restaurant, that they only seemed to know about (AN: I think Peter was a muggle. Don't know why, just do.).  
  
They had a nice, long and relatively peaceful evening. That is until something in Adrian's pocket went off in the restroom, scaring the soul out of some old male muggle. Dinner had to end and they all went back to Diagon Alley and flooed home.  
  
"Have fun today Harry?" Lily asked him after they reached their living room. Harry nodded.  
  
"Loads of it! Can't wait for school!" James grinned at the enthusiasm.  
  
"Well since your birthday was last week, we got you another present today."  
  
"Really? What?" Lily took something out of her pocket before performing an enlarging spell. Instantly the small object turned into a large one covered in a white sheet. Harry gave his parents a questioning look before taking the object and peering under the sheet.  
  
"OH WOW!" he exclaimed, ripping the sheet off. Inside lay a beautiful snowy white owl.  
  
"She'll be useful over the next seven years. And they make faithful companions." James explained.  
  
"She's beautiful! Thank you so much!" he hugged his parents. "I'm going to go look for a name." Harry ran up the stairs with all of his packages as Lily and James watched.  
  
"I'm going to miss him." Lily whispered to her husband and he hugged, wrapping an arm around her waist.  
  
"Don't worry. He'll be fine." He whispered back, nuzzling her neck, before kissing her cheek. "Come on. Let's go to bed. He'll be busy for awhile."  
  
"James Alexander Potter!" she gasped before kissing him. "Oh alright!"  
  
Hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you did, please review! I even accept flames with suggestive criticism. 


	2. Hogwarts at Last

Sorry it took so long to update! It's the end of the school year and Algebra is kicking my ass right now. I'll update more once school lets out!  
  
Thank you to my reviewers! I love you so much!  
  
Disclaimers: I don't own Harry Potter, although I really wish I did!  
  
Sorry about the layout last chapter. It was my first time putting anything on the net, so I hope this layout works better!  
  
Another thing: I decided I'm going to do one school year as one story. And obviously they are going to be short for this and the next story.  
  
K, enough of rambles, onto the story!  
  
The Way It Should Have Been  
  
Chapter Two: Hogwarts  
  
Harry ripped his door open and scrambled out. "Come on!" He pleaded. His dad laughed before turning the car off. His mother got out as well, before Harry ran to the back to pull his trunk out. His dad grabbed a trolley and put it on. Harry placed Hedwig's cage on top. His friends had also each gotten an owl on their birthdays. Katarina had been in early July, Adrian's in late June and Sarah had been last week. His dad pushed the trolley and Harry followed with his mum. James led the way to Platform nine.  
  
"Watch closely." Harry nodded as he watched his dad walk straight towards the barrier between nine and ten. Instantly he disappeared when he hit the wall. Harry's eyes almost hit his glasses they popped out so much.  
  
"COOL!" He turned towards his mom who laughed.  
  
"You next." He nodded and walked through casually. He ended up next to his father staring at a huge scarlet engine. There were hundreds of students walking around, talking to their friends, saying good-bye to their parents, etc. There were cats, owls, frogs, rats, all kinds of creatures.  
  
"This is amazing!" Harry whispered. His mom hugged him.  
  
"Welcome to the beginning of your school life. Use it well." He nodded. They moved out of the way so other people could come through.  
  
"HARRY!" He turned to see Kat running towards him. He hugged her as they laughed. "I'm so excited!"  
  
"I know!"  
  
"Come on, Adrian and I already have a compartment." Harry waved to his parents. And they walked over to the train where a conductor took Harry's things and put them on the train. Harry and Kat pulled them into the farthest back compartment where he set down his trunk and Hedwig. "Adrian is with our parents looking for you three." Harry laughed and they returned to the Potters to see the Blacks and Lupins there already.  
  
"Hey Harry!" He and Adrian did their handshake.  
  
"You three look so excited! I'm so happy!" Jennifer said. The others laughed.  
  
"Pettigrew!" James said. They turned to wave. Peter was pushing a trolley with Sarah's things. "How are you Sarah? Excited?" She nodded happily.  
  
"We have a compartment. Come on." They hopped on the train again and took Sarah's things to the compartment. Then they returned to the adults.  
  
"Oh mum! Don't cry!" Harry said. Lily sniffed, but nodded. The others noticed the other moms were crying too. They all hugged their moms.  
  
"Hey it's Molly!" Sirius said. They turned to see a red head woman run through with four sons and a daughter.  
  
"Who?" Harry asked.  
  
"The Weasleys. Known for their red hair and seven kids. The two oldest are graduated." Sirius explained to his godson.  
  
"WHOA." Kat said. They watched as the boys piled their stuff onto the train, the girl hanging onto her mother's hand. Finally the whistle blew.  
  
"OH!" Jennifer said.  
  
"Quick on the train!" Lily said.  
  
"We'll owl everyday." Callista added.  
  
"Be as good as possible!" Diane finished.  
  
"Just remember..." Remus started.  
  
"Have fun!" James and Sirius finished.  
  
"Bye kids!" Peter added. They hopped on the train and ran to the compartment and stuck their heads out the windows and waved to their parents.  
  
"BYE!" They called. The train slowly started to move. They continued to wave until they turned the corner and lost sight of their parents. They sat down and grinned before they jumped up.  
  
"OHMYGOD!!! It's finally happened!" Katarina shouted, holding onto Adrian.  
  
"We're finally going to school! It's finally our turn to renew the names our father's made." He added.  
  
"I've never been so excited!" Harry said. They soon fell into normal discussion of Quidditch. After a few hours the trolley witch appeared and they bought a bunch of candy, which they dug into immediately. As they sat there trading the cards from their chocolate frogs around, a bushy haired girl appeared in their cart. She looked around before sighing.  
  
"Have you seen a toad in here?" She asked. They shook their heads.  
  
"No sorry. If we do we'll tell you." Kat said. The girl smiled, showing large bucked teeth.  
  
"I'm Katarina Lupin. This is Adrian Black, Sarah Pettigrew and Harry Potter." They smiled at her.  
  
"I'm Hermione Granger. The toad is Neville Longbottom's." They gasped.  
  
"The Neville Longbottom?" Sarah gasped, grasping onto Kat's arm.  
  
"Don't worry Sarah. You'll meet him sometime or other." Harry said, rolling his eyes.  
  
"Thanks anyway." Hermione said before she left. Their talk resumed with random outbursts from Sarah about Neville.  
  
"We'd better get dressed." She said, making it the first reasonable thing she had said all day. The guys nodded and left to let the girls get dressed, then the guys went in and the girls left. They sat together in silence, too excited to speak.  
  
They continued to oh and ah over the lake until the train stopped. They followed the rest of the students.  
  
"Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" called a huge man. The four hurried over to him.  
  
"You're really tall!" Sarah said. He laughed, deep and boomy.  
  
"Thank yer! My name's Hagrid. I'm Keeper o' the keys."  
  
"I'm Harry Potter."  
  
"Harry Potter? Son o' Lily an' James?" Harry nodded. "I'm guessin' there might be a Lupin, Pettigrew and a Black in here as well?"  
  
"Katarina Lupin."  
  
"Adrian Black."  
  
"Sarah Pettigrew."  
  
"Guessin' yeh'll be as bad as yer dads?" They nodded and he laughed again.  
  
"All righ' firs' years! No more'n four to a boat!" The Marauders climbed into the boat right behind Hagrid's and the rest of the first years followed. The boats started paddling after Hagrid made sure everyone was settled and yelled "FORWARD!" Everyone continued to stare at the huge castle, with the large windows looking like large eyes. Soon they were at the opposite shore and they climbed out. They followed Hagrid up the huge steps and when everyone was there, he knocked three times on the huge castle doors.  
  
The doors opened and they saw a tall, dark haired witch in dark emerald green robes standing there. Her hair was in a tight bun and she wore square glasses. She looked very stern.  
  
"Thank you Hagrid." He nodded and waved to the Marauders who waved back. They looked towards the witch. She raised her eyebrows before walking away. They followed quickly, hurrying silently across the large stone floors, past tapestries, suits of armor and tons of huge torches. She led them past a huge marble staircase to an empty chamber that had nothing in it. They stood close together, peering around the dark room.  
  
"Welcome to Hogwarts," the witch started. "I am Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts and head of Gryffindor house. The start of the term banquet will be begin shortly. You will be sorted into your houses before you take your seats however. Your house will be like your family during your stay at Hogwarts, so the sorting ceremony is very important. Your classes will be with your house, you will sleep in your house dormitory, and your free time will be spent in your house commons room.  
  
"The houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. They each have their own history that is noble and an outstanding wizard and witch have come out of each. Your triumphs will earn you house points and rule breaking will lose them." With this she looked at the four Marauders right in front of her as if she knew just who they were and just what they would do. "At the end of the year feast, the house with the most points will win the House Cup. This is a great honor. Hopefully each one of you will be of value to your fellow house.  
  
"The sorting ceremony will begin shortly. You will wait here until I come and get you. Smarten yourselves up while you wait." She looked around the crowd. "I will fetch you shortly." With a swish of her cloak she turned and walked away. Everyone looked around nervously.  
  
"What do we have to do?" Sarah asked them. Kat shrugged.  
  
"My older brothers said something about having to wrestle a troll." Said a tall, gangly, red-headed boy with a ton of freckles over his cheeks and nose. Kat recognized him as one of the Weasleys.  
  
"What?" Sarah squeaked, grabbing Adrian's arm.  
  
"That is so stupid! I can not believe you fell for that!" Hermione snorted. The boy shot her a look of contempt.  
  
"It's advanced magic. They really wouldn't make us do that would they?" a girl with blonde pigtails asked.  
  
"We could take it! We're the marauders!" Harry said. The other three laughed, but stopped when McGonagall reappeared in the room. She threw a hard look across the new first years.  
  
"Follow me." They quickly walked to keep up with the witch who led them into a pair of tall wooden doors. As she reached them, they opened by themselves. The students gasped as they filed in.  
  
"Look at the ceiling!" Kat whispered to the others. They oohd and ahhd over the ceiling that looked the outside sky.  
  
"It's enchanted to do that. I read it in Hogwarts, A History." Hermione informed them.  
  
"Wonderful book isn't it?" Kat asked her. They stopped in the front of the hall and McGonagall placed a three legged stool in front of the first years that held an old and torn up looking hat on it.  
  
"What do we have to do? Answer a riddle?" Adrian joked. Kat elbowed him and he grunted softly.  
  
"When I call your name, please sit on the stool and I will place the hat on your head." McGonagall said, holding the hat in one hand and a scroll in the other. She waited a few seconds before calling the first name.  
  
"Abbott, Hannah!" became the first Hufflepuff.  
  
"Black, Adrian!" Adrian smiled and walked up to the stool before sitting down. They held their breaths as he was proclaimed "GRYFFINDOR!" The table cheered as Adrian sat at the table, grinning from ear to ear. Another girl was named a Hufflepuff.  
  
"Boot, Terry!" became a Ravenclaw as did another girl and "Bulstrode, Millicent!" became the first Slytherin.  
  
A boy named Finch-Fletchley, Justin became a Hufflepuff.  
  
"Granger, Hermione!" became a Gryffindor. The red-haired boy gave a soft groan of protest.  
  
"Longbottom, Neville!" Sarah gave a squeal of delight as the round faced boy walked awkwardly to the stool. He sat down as everyone held their breaths. Finally he became a Gryffindor and the entire table cheered.  
  
"Lupin, Katarina." Kat took a deep breath before she walked to the stool. She sat down and was immediately proclaimed a Gryffindor. She bounced over to sit next to Adrian and they hugged.  
  
"Malfoy, Draco." He swaggered to the chair and sat. Before the hat even touched his head, he became a Slytherin. Several more were said before it was Sarah's turn. She walked slowly to the table and sat.  
  
"GRYFFINDOR!" She ran over to sit next to Adrian and Kat. Harry went next. He sat in the chair and was soon proclaimed a Gryffindor. The Marauders screamed with laughter as Harry ran over to them.  
  
"Yes! We will be the Marauders!" Harry laughed. They hugged before watching the rest of the ceremony. The red-head boy (named Ron Weasley) also became a Gryffindor and he sat next to three other red-heads. Finally "Zabini, Blaise" became a Slytherin and Albus Dumbledore stood to greet the students. He raised his hands and everyone fell silent.  
  
"Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! Before we begin to eat I have some notices. I wish first years to know that the on grounds forest is forbidden. Some of our older students should remember this as well.  
  
"And our caretaker, Mr. Filch, wishes to remind you that no magic between classes in the halls.  
  
"Quidditch trials are to be held in the second week of the term. Anyone who wishes to try, please see Madam Hooch.  
  
"Last, but not least, the third-floor corridor is off limits. The right side one. And now that's over, may the feast begin!"  
  
Instantly all the plates filled with delicious food. The Marauders (the four will now be referred to as the Marauders) grabbed all kinds of food and piled them onto their plates. They joined in on many conversations with the other members of the house.  
  
They learned the rest of the Weasley children's names, and the rest of their year. The feast ended too soon and Percy Weasley led the first years to the common room, meeting a horrible poltergeist names Peeves; there was a portrait of a fat woman in a pink dress and she promptly asked for the password.  
  
"Caput Dranconis." And the huge portrait opened and they all piled into the common room. Percy told them which side their dorms were on and everyone retired for the night.  
  
Or well tried to.  
  
"It sucks that the girls can't come in here." Adrian commented. Only he and Harry were awake. They got the beds next to the window.  
  
"I know. Oh well. We'll see them in the morning." He yawned and Adrian laughed. "It's late, let's as least try to sleep."  
  
"Right. Night Harry."  
  
"Night Adrian."  
  
The entire morning was crazy. Everyone in the hallways were whispering about Neville, which he seemed to hate, since he was a very shy person. They all got lost as least twice because of the sheer size of the castle.  
  
A hundred and forty-two staircases, too many doors to even try to count, and the ghosts didn't help. Only Nearly Headless Nick seemed willing to help anyone. And then there was Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris who seemed to know everything that went on and would immediately go get Filch.  
  
Classes didn't go very well either. They found out that at midnight on Wednesdays they would study the stars, and they would go to the greenhouses three times a week for Herbology. The most boring class was History of Magic, taught by a very dead and boring ghost. Professor Flitwick was a short wizard who stood on books to see. He taught Charms and when he came to Neville's name he toppled off his book stack. And McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house, taught transfiguration. She was a very strict and clever witch they found out and seemed impressed only with Hermione when the were supposed to turn a match into a needle, until Katarina was able to do it better.  
  
Defense Against the Dark Arts was a huge joke. All Quirrell did was stutter and his room smelled funny, like lots of garlic. His turban was supposedly from an African prince, but he wouldn't tell what he did to get it besides that he fought off a zombie.  
  
Friday was Potions with the Slytherins and neither of the four was happy. They immediately recognized their teacher as Snivellus, their fathers's sworn enemy.  
  
"Well, well. If it isn't the infamous Marauder children." He sneered under his breath, but Kat heard him due to the fact she had inheritated certain Werewolf qualities from her father, thankfully not the transforming part.  
  
He began class with a little speech about how difficult Potions was and how different it was from other classes at Hogwarts. They listened quietly and were amazed when Snape seemed to pick on Neville, almost as much as the Marauders.  
  
He had questioned Neville with several hard questions about what certain plants did what and what they were etc, none of which he knew. Hermione and Katarina knew, but Kat decided to keep quiet. Hermione didn't know that much about Snape and therefore waved her hand around.  
  
They soon paired up and started a potion. Sarah and Kat, Harry and Adrian. Poor Neville, Snape made him horribly nervous and he blew the potion up, causing Seamus to take him to the hospital wing.  
  
"You four! Why didn't you tell him he was doing it wrong?" he snapped at them.  
  
"Perhaps we were too busy with our own potions to notice." Adrian snapped back.  
  
"One point from Gryffindor Black." He opened his mouth to protest until Kat kicked him and mouthed "Don't push it. Percy said he can get really mean."  
  
"Hey." Harry said, adding crushed snake fangs to Sarah's cauldron. "Let's visit Hagrid later. It could be fun!"  
  
"Sounds good to me!" Adrian agreed. An hour later they left the dungeons and headed towards Hagrid's cabin.  
  
They did some of their homework in the Commons and talked to the older years about the exams, third year when you get to choose courses and the OWLs until just before three and they left for Hagrid's cabin.  
  
He lived on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest in a large wooden cabin. They knocked on the door and heard scrapping and boomy barks.  
  
"Who is it?"  
  
"Harry, Adrian, Kat and Sarah." Harry called.  
  
"Right. Hang on Back, Fang." He finally got the door open and let them in. They entered the large one room cabin to see Hagrid struggling with an enormous black boarhound.  
  
"Make yerselves at home." Hagrid told them. Kat and Sarah sat in a large armchair and Harry and Adrian sat at the table.  
  
"How'd yer firs' week go?" He asked, boiling tea and setting down a large plate of rock cakes.  
  
"Okay. I like several of our teachers." Kat said, grabbing one of the cakes. Harry and Adrian bite into one each and made a pained expression.  
  
"Except Snape. He seems to dislike us." Sarah said, chewing on a cake.  
  
"Wonder why." Adrian mused out loud, elbowing Harry's rib.  
  
"I'm sure yer know about Snape and yer dads not getting' on."  
  
"Yeah." Harry agreed. Then he noticed the Daily Prophet laying on the table. "Hey Hagrid can I take this? Mum didn't send me one."  
  
"Sure. Read it." Harry slipped it into his pocket and after another hour they left for dinner.  
  
"Hey listen to this!" Kat told them at dinner.  
  
GRINGOTTS BREAL-IN LATEST  
  
Investigations continue into the break-in at Gringotts on 31 July, widely believed to be the work of Dark wizards or witched unknown. Gringotts goblins today insisted that nothing had been taken. The vault, vault number 713, that was searched had in fact been emptied the same day. "But we're not telling you what was in there, so keep your noses out if you know what's good for you." said a Gringotts spokesgoblin this afternoon.  
  
When Kat finished reading the others noticed she was pale.  
  
"What's wrong Kat?" Adrian asked, rubbing her arm.  
  
"That day dad and I were at Gringotts and we saw Hagrid at that vault!" she whispered quietly.  
  
The others sat in stunned silence.  
  
"Maybe it's at Hogwarts!" Harry exclaimed loudly. People at the table turned to look at them and they smiled before turning towards each other again.  
  
"Wonder if we could get out of Hagrid what it is." Adrian mumbled, stroking his chin.  
  
"Don't Adrian! It's too early in the school year." Sarah whispered, her eyes shifting around, making sure no one was listening.  
  
"Oh lighten up Sarah! I promise I won't do anything, alone." Sarah groaned as he and Harry nodded at each other.  
  
"Give it up Sarah. Besides it might not be at Hogwarts." Kat reasoned.  
  
"Yes, but we won't know, unless we try to find out." Harry laughed at Adrian and they continued their dinner, their minds on other things.  
  
Please review! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! 


	3. Exciting Events

It's the weekend and I have nothing better to do, so that's why this chapter is out so quick.  
  
I changed the rating. It seemed high to me.  
  
Disclaimer: See chapters one and two.  
  
Warnings: None.  
  
The Way It Should Have Been  
  
Chapter Three: Exciting Events  
  
The first flying lesson, the one thing Harry and Adrian were excited about. Yeah, sure, they knew how to fly, it was the principal of the thing. And they were very happy about Thursday, until they learned they were learning with the Slytherins.  
  
"Great." Neville groaned. "Just what I always wanted, to make a fool of myself in front of the Slytherins. My gran has never even let me within ten feet of a broom!"  
  
"Seems like a good idea to me." Adrian whispered in Harry's ear and he snorted, almost spilling his ink all over his homework for Charms. Neville was extremely accident-prone, and him being on a broomstick seemed like a dangerous idea.  
  
"Don't worry Neville. A lot of people haven't touched a broomstick before. You don't need to worry. I'm not very good at flying anyway." Harry and Adrian had to give it to Kat, she knew how to cheer someone up. Kat was a great flyer, it came naturally to her because her mother had been a chaser on the team with James.  
  
"What about Malfoy? He's always talking about how great he is!" Sarah asked. She was also nervous about the lesson. The Slytherins were already starting to make fun of her because of her weight. Harry and Adrian hadn't gotten into a fight with one of them, yet.  
  
"It's probably all talk." Ron pointed out.  
  
"I don't know. The Malfoy's own a huge plot of land. His father could easily have taught him to fly." Adrian said, moving his chess piece. He and Ron were always playing chess. It had become a huge source of entertainment between the first years.  
  
"Well we'll see Thursday won't we?"  
  
Thursday came and that morning all of the older classmen were talking to the first years about the school brooms.  
  
"I hate them! They vibrate when you go too high," Fred started.  
  
"And they always seem to have a pull on them." George added.  
  
In fact, everyone seemed to have a lot of feeling about flying. Seamus told them about how he zoomed around the countryside, Ron's story about when he almost hit a hang glider on one of his older brother's broom. Hermione had found a lot of tips on flying and she bored them stupid with them. Neville was listening to them with great excitement, it seemed he was trying to memorize them. Thank Merlin for the mail that morning.  
  
A large brown barn owl landed in front of Neville. He took the package and opened it.  
  
"A Remembrall." He mused out loud. "It turns red when you forgot something." Instantly the white smoke inside turned a deep scarlet and his face fell. "What'd I forget?"  
  
Soon it was time for the flying lesson. The Gryffindor first years hurried to the pitch, seeing the Slytherins already there. There were twenty brooms lying near one another.  
  
"Step up to your broomstick." Madam Hooch barked. She had short spiky gray hair and yellow hawk-like eyes.  
  
Once everyone had done that she continued.  
  
"Stick your right hand over the broomstick and say UP!"  
  
"UP!" Everyone shouted. Harry's and Adrian's flew instantly to their hands as did Kat's. Sarah's didn't move, neither did Neville's. Draco's went straight to his hand. Many of the other students had problems getting their brooms to go up.  
  
"Now that I've showed you how to mount your brooms, I want you to. When I blow my whistle I want you to touch off the ground, hover, then lean slightly forward and come back down! Ready!" Before she blew her whistle, Neville took off.  
  
"Mr. Longbottom! Come back down." He floated higher and higher before he slid sideways off the broom and landed on the ground. Everyone groaned and Madam Hooch hurried over.  
  
"Broken wrist. Come on, to the hospital wing. None of you leave the ground or you will be out of Hogwarts faster than you can say 'Quidditch.'" Draco waited until she was out of sight before picking up Neville's Remembrall.  
  
"Look what the great lump dropped. Some great hero he is!" The Slytherins laughed.  
  
"Shut up, Malfoy!" Sarah snapped.  
  
"Didn't realize you'd like that type Pettigrew." Pansy Parkinson. "Although would make an attractive couple. I can see your fat children now." Adrian stepped forward but Kat grabbed his arm and held him back.  
  
"Give the Remembrall here Malfoy." Harry said holding his hand out.  
  
"You know. I'll leave for him to find. Maybe-in a tree." He hopped on his broomstick and flew off. Harry's face was determined and he mounted his broomstick as well.  
  
"Harry, no!" Kat cried, grabbing his arm. He shrugged her off and flew towards Draco, completely at ease.  
  
"What an idiot!" Hermione muttered.  
  
"Give me the Remembrall Malfoy, or I'll knock you off your broom!"  
  
"Really now? Let's see you try." Harry flew at Malfoy, but he ducked and turned towards Harry who was behind him. "Fine Potter. Go catch it." He threw the Remembrall straight into the air. Harry leaned forward on his broom and rushed after it as it begin to hurtle towards the ground. When it was a foot from the ground he caught it and pulled his broomstick up, landing. All of the Gryffindors ran towards him.  
  
"Great catch Harry." Adrian yelled in his ear, hugging him. The rest of the Gryffindors patted him on the back until.  
  
"HARRY POTTER!" They turned to see Professor McGonagall rushing towards them. "Never in my life have I seen-how dare you-could have broken your neck!"  
  
"It wasn't his fault!" Kat protested.  
  
"Quiet Ms. Lupin."  
  
"But Malfoy!"  
  
"Enough Mr. Black. Come with me young man." Harry sighed, and tossed the Remembrall to Adrian who caught it easily. He followed McGonagall as she led him into the castle. She moved quickly and Harry had a hard time keeping up with her. Finally she stopped and told him to stay.  
  
"Professor Flitwick, I'm sorry. May I borrow Wood?" 'Wood, whose Wood?' Harry thought.  
  
In a few seconds a burly fifth-year boy came out looking confused. "Follow me." The two followed, marching up a corridor, Wood looking at Harry with curiosity.  
  
"In here." They went in and McGonagall closed the door. "Out Peeves!" she screeched at the Poltergeist, who cursed as he swooped out.  
  
"Potter, this is Oliver Wood. Wood, this is Harry. Wood I've found you a seeker!" Harry's head snapped up and his eyes lit back up.  
  
"Seriously?" Wood asked as he walked around Harry, studying him.  
  
"He's a natural, just like his father. He caught the thing in a fifty-foot dive. Charlie Weasley couldn't have done, not a scratch!"  
  
"You're James Potter's son right?" Harry nodded. "So you've seen Quidditch before?" He nodded again and Oliver looked like all of his dreams had come true. "I'm the captain of the Gryffindor team.  
  
"You're built like a Seeker. Light, speedy. He'll need a good broomstick."  
  
"We'll see if the rules can't be bent a little. I'll want to hear you're doing good Potter, or I'll change the rules about not punishing you. Your Father will be so proud!" McGonagall said, smiling.  
  
"No way!" Adrian said at dinner. Harry had just told the three what had happened.  
  
"Harry, you're the youngest player in-"Kat started.  
  
"A century. Wood told me." He shoveled food into his mouth, very hungry. "Keep it secret. I start training next week." Suddenly the Weasley twins were behind Harry.  
  
"Good job Harry." Fred said. "Wood just told us."  
  
"We're the beaters on the team." George said. Harry smiled and shook hands with them.  
  
"I'll be happy to work with you!" the laughed and went to sit down. Immediately Malfoy, with his thug servants, Crabbe and Goyle appeared.  
  
"Enjoying your last meal Potter?"  
  
"You're braver on the ground you know that?" Harry told him with his mouth full. Both Malfoy and Kat looked disgusted.  
  
"Eat with your mouth closed." She told him. He smiled at her.  
  
"I'll take you on anytime. Tonight even. A Wizard's duel. Only wands."  
  
"Fine. Adrian's my second."  
  
"Crabbe's mine. The trophy room, Midnight." They stalked away.  
  
"Harry, Adrian! You can't!" Kat gasped. They looked at each other.  
  
"They can't do any real harm to each other." Adrian said.  
  
"Still, you shouldn't go wandering around. You could get Gryffindor in trouble." Sarah said.  
  
"Would you two stop being such girls? It'll be fine." They sighed and nodded.  
  
Adrian and Harry waited until Ron, Dean and Seamus were asleep before sneaking out. Neville was still at the hospital wing. When they got to the Commons Room they saw Sarah and Kat sitting on the couch, waiting for them.  
  
"No." Adrian said.  
  
"We're coming with you, whether you like it or not." The boys groaned, but nodded and the four snuck out.  
  
They snuck along the halls quietly, looking for any signs of Mrs. Norris, Filch or a teacher. They reached the trophy room with no mishaps, but Malfoy and Crabbe weren't there yet.  
  
"Maybe they chickened out." Sarah whispered after they waited for what seemed like an hour even though it was only a few seconds.  
  
"I don't think so." Adrian whispered back.  
  
"I hear someone. Be quiet." Kat said creeping over towards the door. After a few seconds the others did too, and it wasn't Malfoy.  
  
"Sniff, my sweet. They could be hiding." It was Filch and Mrs. Norris. Horror-struck, Harry waved for them to follow. They moved away from the door, as quietly as possible. They had all just gotten around a corner before Filch entered.  
  
"They're hiding." He muttered.  
  
"Come on." Harry mouthed and they stole quietly along a gallery of suits of armor. Filch was getting nearer and nearer. Sarah wasn't looking where she was going and ran into a suit of armor.  
  
"RUN!" Harry yelled as the clanging of the armor echoed throughout the whole gallery. They sprinted down the gallery, Harry in the lead. He found a hidden passageway under a tapestry and it led them out by the Charms classroom.  
  
"I think we lost him." Kat gasped.  
  
"Good going Sarah." Adrian said.  
  
"Leave her alone. Besides we need to get back to the tower." The others nodded at Harry's suggestion. They walked quietly, Harry feeling stupid that he fell for Malfoy's trick. He was grateful that Kat wasn't saying anything, as he thought she would. And then they ran into Peeves.  
  
"Peeves, please be quiet." Kat whispered to him. He cackled.  
  
"Naughty, naughty. You'll be caught."  
  
"Please."  
  
"STUDENTS OUT OF BED!" He bellowed and the four took off again, running into a locked door.  
  
"Oh no!" Sarah gasped.  
  
"Move." Kat whipped her wand out and whispered "_Alohomora_." Instantly the door unlocked and they scrambled in, closing it behind them. They listened as Filch argued with Peeves. Finally he left. Harry, Kat and Adrian breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"Uh guys?" Sarah whispered. "What is that?"  
  
"What is what?" Harry asked, turning around and he gasped. Kat ran backwards into Adrian and he put his hands on her shoulders.  
  
The what was a huge dog with three heads.  
  
They were in the forbidden corridor. The dog's three sets of eyes were red with anger and mad, and it's three noses twitched at the new smells the children brought. It stared at them and they gasped for air to breath.  
  
Harry would rather face Filch then being stuck in this room with this monster. Wordlessly Harry groped around for the door handle. Finally he grabbed it and the door flew open, the four toppling out.  
  
They flew down the corridor, not stopping until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. Kat gasped the password and giving them stern looks, let them into the common room. They collapsed into armchairs, breathing hard.  
  
"What are they thinking! Keeping something like that locked up!" Adrian spat out.  
  
"At least we know why that corridor is forbidden." Sarah said.  
  
"It was standing on something, didn't you see?" Kat asked.  
  
"The floor? I don't know! I was too busy watching the THREE heads to worry about it's feet!" Harry suggested.  
  
"It was standing on a trapdoor. It's guarding something." The other three stared at her and she nodded.  
  
"Well I'm going to bed now. Can you two please behave for at least two days?" The boys nodded and Kat nodded back, heading to the girl's dorm. Sarah whispered good night and followed.  
  
"I'm going to take Kat's advice for once I think." Adrian said and Harry agreed. The two went up to the boy's dorm as Harry's head swam with information.  
  
He knew that Gringotts and Hogwarts were two of the safest magic places to hide something. Maybe Hagrid did know what was under the trapdoor and what the dog was doing. He did seem to like big dogs. Harry's brain continued to swim until he couldn't think anymore and exhausted he fell asleep.  
  
Read and review! 


	4. Trolls and Revenge

Exams are coming up and I'm getting a butt load of homework each night, so it might take me longer to update sometimes.  
  
Disclaimer: I, Tara (Renée/Nienna/Moony/Remus/Remie/and whatever it is that Tiffany calls me) do not own Harry Potter in any way.  
  
Warnings: Small string of curse words from Mr. Adrian Black  
  
Thank you to Tiffany (aka Sirius Black, Padfoot and all of those other names we call you) for thinking of the prank the Slytherins played on Kat. I could not think of a good one! Lots of extra love to you!  
  
The Way it Should Have Been  
  
Chapter Four: Trolls and Revenge  
  
The Marauders left for breakfast yawning. They were extremely tired and sore from running halfway across the entire school in a few minutes. As they sat down they looked to the Slytherin table to see that Malfoy and his goons were really upset to see the Marauders still at Hogwarts. The only thing they talked about was what could be in the package.  
  
"Did you even see the package?" Harry asked Kat. She shook her head yes as she took a bite of her toast. When she swallowed it she said that it was small, about two inches or so.  
  
"A lot of things are that small!" Adrian cried, throwing his head on the table. Kat rolled her eyes and continued to eat breakfast.  
  
"You seem really calm about this whole thing." he accused her. She widened her eyes.  
  
"What? You two said that you wouldn't do anything wrong for two days. And I'm enjoying that. When the two days are up, you can presume your evil doing." They grinned at her and decided to figure some way to get back at Malfoy.  
  
"Harry? What's that Hedwig has?" He looked up at Sarah's finger and saw Hedwig carrying a large package. She dropped it in front of him and the whole table stared at it. Suddenly another owl appeared, dropping a letter on top. Harry ripped it open first.  
  
DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand broomstick. I don't want everyone  
  
knowing you got one. Oliver Wood will meet you on the pitch at seven. Professor McGonagall  
  
They stared at the note Harry passed around, before he grabbed it. They started to make their way to the exit when Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle stood in their way. Malfoy grabbed the parcel.  
  
"It's a broomstick! First years aren't allowed to have a broomstick."  
  
"It's a Nimbus Two Thousand thank you very much." Adrian said to his cousin. "You have a what? A Comet Two Sixty?" Kat and Harry snickered. "Nice and flashy, no where near as good as a Nimbus."  
  
"Shut it Black. You don't even have a broomstick." Before Adrian could answer Professor Flitwick appeared.  
  
"Something the matter?"  
  
"Potter got a broomstick."  
  
"Oh yes, I know all about the special occasion. What's the model?"  
  
"A Nimbus Two Thousand." The Marauders laughed inwardly at the horror on Malfoy's face. They raced out of the hall, laughing at Malfoy's confusion.  
  
Harry couldn't concentrate on lessons. The only thing he thought about was his brand new broomstick sitting in the boy's dorm just waiting to be admired. He wanted to fly on the Quidditch field, he missed flying, even though it hadn't been that long since he had flown.  
  
He ate his dinner as fast as possible so that Adrian and he could open the parcel. They raced to the dorm, telling Kat and Sarah to wait for them in the common room. They ripped the paper off and onto the bed gently rolled the Nimbus Two Thousand. It had a sleek and shiny handle and every twig was in place. It was the most beautiful broomstick either had ever seen. In a daze Harry picked it up and took it to the common room for Kat and Sarah to see.  
  
"Wow." Kat breathed softly.  
  
"It's beautiful." Sarah whispered.  
  
"I know." The girls continued to look it over until a few minutes before seven.  
  
"I've got to go meet Oliver."  
  
"Oliver Wood?" Kat asked, the broomstick forgotten.  
  
"Yeah. He's the Quidditch coach."  
  
"Oh, he's so cute. Percy's friends with him." Adrian rolled his eyes, clearly jealous of Kat's new attraction.  
  
"You've become stuck on Percy."  
  
"He is a prefect. I just want to stay on his good side!" Adrian nodded, still jealous, and Harry waved to them before heading out of the room.  
  
He walked down and entered the field. He had never been in this one, but had seen tons of ones like it. Hundreds of seats were raised up and there were three golden hoops at the end of each side of the pitch. He was eager to fly so he immediately took off and soared around the pitch a few times.  
  
He loved the feeling flying gave him. The wind in his hair, the rush, everything. He loved the broomstick too. It moved so easily, easier than any broom he had ever flown before. It moved at his slightest touch.  
  
"Potter!" he floated closer to the ground to see Oliver waving at him. "Come down!" He headed to the ground and dismounted.  
  
"You really are a natural. Alright tonight we'll just go over general stuff. We'll also practice a little bit. You'll join the team practice next week." Harry nodded and Oliver set the trunk he was carrying down and opened it. He let Harry see each of the balls (the Bludger almost wiping his nose off of his face).  
  
"We won't practice with the Snitch, might lose it. We'll just use golf balls." Harry nodded and they mounted their brooms. Oliver threw the golf balls in all directions and Harry caught every single one. They only practiced for half an hour because it had started to get dark. As they trudged up to the castle Oliver talked about how good the team was going to be this year.  
  
Harry was extremely busy now. Quidditch practice (the day after his first practice he had received a huge letter from his parents and the other Marauder's parents congratulating him), the piles of homework each night and Hogwarts really felt like home. The others agreed too.  
  
On Halloween day they awoke to the delicious smells of baking pumpkin and Professor Flitwick thought it was time to make things fly in Charms. Everyone was excited because they had wanted to make things fly since Neville's toad had flown across the room. Harry and Seamus Finnigan were partners, Sarah and Neville (which she was extremely happy about; Adrian thought it seemed like a really bad idea since neither could do spells very well), and Kat and Adrian.  
  
"And don't forget the wrist movement and the pronunciation. It could prove most deadly at times. Have at it."  
  
Nobody seemed to be having much luck. Harry and Seamus flickered their wrists and said the incantation and the feather sat there, doing nothing. Adrian wasn't having much luck either.  
  
Kat laughed when he began to chant. "Stop, Adrian stop."  
  
"What?"  
  
In the corner of his eye he saw Ron waving his arm around like a windmill and Hermione snapped at him that he was saying it wrong. He rolled his eyes and went back to watching Kat and Adrian.  
  
"Watch." Kat held her wand out and flicked it saying. "Wingardium Leviosa." Instantly the feather flew up.  
  
"Ah everyone look! Ms. Lupin has it!" Adrian rolled his eyes and nudged her slightly. Hermione looked disappointed because seconds after Kat's, hers had flown into the air as well.  
  
Adrian and Harry eventually got the hang of it, but Kat was going to have to teach Sarah later in the common room. On their way there Kat remembered she had forgotten something in the Charms room and ran back to get it, saying she'd see them. They didn't see her in the common room.  
  
"Where could she be?" Adrian wondered.  
  
"Maybe she's at the feast already. She talked to Flitwick about something, was late, went directly there." Harry suggested.  
  
They headed to the Great Hall, but saw no sign of Kat.  
  
"Where could she be?" Sarah thought out loud as they sat in their normal spots, end of the table.  
  
"Didn't you hear?" Lavender gasped to them.  
  
"Hear what?" Adrian asked her. She and Parvati glanced at each other.  
  
"The Slytherins played a huge prank on her earlier, completely humiliated her. She's been in the girl's bathroom crying and she refuses to come out." They sat there dumbfounded.  
  
"Oh I am going to beat the hell out of that asshole!" Adrian snarled, planting his fist into this palm.  
  
"Adrian!" Sarah scolded. "No cursing!"  
  
"Fine that no good rotten jerk-oh Sarah, there's no real good none insulting curse words at the moment!"  
  
"Fine."  
  
"That greasy bastard! I am going to beat the sh-"  
  
"Okay Adrian enough." He nodded and they glared at the Slytherins as all three stuffed candy into their pockets for Kat.  
  
"When the feast is over we'll go straight to the girl's bathroom." Harry said and they nodded. They had just started to eat when Professor Quirrell rushed into the hall, his turban askew. He ran to in front of the teacher's table.  
  
"Troll-in the dungeons-thought you ought to know." He gasped out, before collapsing into a dead faint on the floor.  
  
All the students started to scream and it took several large firecrackers to calm everyone down.  
  
"Prefects, please led your houses to your dorms while the teachers follow me to the dungeons." Dumbledore explained calmly.  
  
"Follow me, stick together first years!" Percy barked, as he was totally into his element. The three followed him until Harry remembered a very important thing.  
  
"KAT!" The other two stopped. "She doesn't know!" They gasped and headed towards a bunch of Hufflepuffs, before splitting from them and heading towards the girl's bathroom.  
  
Suddenly they heard footsteps and they ducked behind a statue as Snape rounded the corner and disappeared.  
  
"What's he doing?" Sarah whispered.  
  
"No idea." Harry said before they started to follow him down the corridor.  
  
"He's going to the third floor corridor." Adrian hissed at them. They started to follow him again, until they smelled something horrible, like old sweaty socks and dead fish.  
  
"Ugh! What is that?" Harry pointed to Adrian's question.  
  
"The troll left the dungeon." They gasped at the sight of the twelve foot tall troll. It had green wrinkled, lumpy skin. He had a high forehead with a really dumb look on his face. In spite of the serious situation, it reminded Harry of Crabbe and Goyle.  
  
"It's headed to the girl's bathroom!" Sarah whispered in fear. They gasped and quietly ran towards the troll as he dragged a huge club behind him.  
  
They ran in after it entered the room and saw Kat shrunk against the wall, eyes wide in fear. And her hair was really messy. It looked like someone had tried to give her a haircut blindfolded and slobbering drunk. It was askew and different lengths in all spots.  
  
"Move away from it Kat!" Harry yelled at her. She didn't move.  
  
"Try to confuse it." Harry and Sarah nodded, grabbing debris from the knocked off sinks that the troll had scraped off. Adrian ran towards Kat, trying to get her to move. She couldn't budge, the troll would have knocked her off her feet in a second.  
  
"Oi! Pea-brain!" Harry yelled at it and hit it on the head with a metal pipe (giving Adrian the chance to run to Kat). It turned it's head and gazed stupidly at Harry and Sarah. It took a step towards Adrian and Kat though and Harry did one of the stupidest things he had done. He ran and jumped up, wrapping his arms around the troll's neck. It didn't notice Harry landing on it's back but it did notice when Harry's wand went up the troll's nose.  
  
It screamed in pain and fear, swinging the club around. Not knowing what to do Sarah grabbed her wand. "Wingardium Leviosa." The club rose in the air before smashing into the troll's head. Harry fell off and moved quickly away from the troll as he staggered slightly before falling forward. The entire floor moved with the weight of the landing troll.  
  
Harry slowly got to his feet and moved over to Sarah. Adrian and Kat walked around the troll and they stared at it, no words coming.  
  
"Is, is it dead?" Sarah asked.  
  
"No, just knocked out." Harry ripped his wand out of the troll's nose and they all groaned in disgust. "Ew, troll boogers." He wiped his wand on the troll's shirt. He was about to ask Kat what happened to her, before a loud slamming of doors and feet came from outside. They looked up just in time to see Professor McGonagall slide into the restroom, followed by Snape and Quirrell.  
  
"Oh my goodness!" she gasped, seeing the troll. When Quirrell saw the troll he whimpered softly and leaned against the door. Snape was bent over the troll and McGonagall's nostrils flared with anger.  
  
"Explain yourselves! What were you thinking?"  
  
"Well, you see..." Harry, Adrian and Sarah started.  
  
"It's my fault." Kat spoke up instantly. The teachers gave her a surprised look. So did her best-friends. Kat was lying to a teacher.  
  
"And how it that?"  
  
"I've read a lot about trolls and I thought I could handle it until the teachers came. I was wrong, it they hadn't followed me I'd be dead." She lowered her eyes and McGonagall gave her a sad glance.  
  
"Five points on your part Ms. Lupin. That was a rash action that I'm surprised you took. And for the three of you five points to each of you. For sheer dumb luck. The students are finishing the feast. And what happened to your hair?"  
  
"Some of the Slytherins decided to play a joke on me earlier. They hacked it off." Kat's hair was her pride and joy and she sucked a sob in.  
  
"Well let me fix it." She muttered something under her breath as she waved her wand. Instantly Kat's hair looked like normal. "Professor Snape will deal with them. Give them their names tomorrow in class."  
  
McGonagall looked at Snape before leaving. He sneered at the four of them and left as well.  
  
"You'd probably should go back to your common room." Quirrell's voice cracked and the three left him in the restroom. When they were out of ear shot Kat hugged all three of them.  
  
"Thank you so much."  
  
"What exactly did they do to you?" Adrian asked her when she hugged him. She let go and shook her head.  
  
"You'll find out sooner or later."  
  
"Kat tell us so I can kill him."  
  
"I promise Adrian, you'll find out." He nodded and the three went up to the Gryffindor common room as Harry and Adrian thought of a good revenge.  
  
The next morning the four walked to breakfast, exhausted. "Well I guess the whole "stay out of trouble for two days" didn't go so well huh?" Kat asked them.  
  
"Kat I really don't think we're supposed to stay out of trouble." Harry said and they laughed. They reached the Great Hall and Kat faltered.  
  
"Come on. I won't let them do anything to you." Adrian whispered in her ear. She nodded and let them led her into the great hall.  
  
"Well well. I'm surprised to see your face again. And look your hair is normal." Malfoy called from the Slytherin table, waving a picture around. Kat kept her face ahead, but Harry and Adrian would have loved to tear him apart.  
  
They say at the table, the other three houses giving Kat sympathetic looks. Harry and Adrian had gotten who did it the prank to Kat and they had devised a plan. They had heard from Parvati and Lavender what had happened.  
  
They ambushed her and burned all of her homework and notes (Hermione had giver Kat hers in the common room to recopy). They stole her wand and Malfoy put a binding spell on her as Pansy hacked off her hair. Worse they had taken a picture of it (it was mailed to everyone that night, but Kat had won all sympathy from the other houses). When Harry and Adrian saw it they got so mad they almost took off to the Slytherin dorms.  
  
Harry and Adrian faced the Slytherins so Kat couldn't see them. They started to eat and breakfast was going as usual until screams of terror erupted from the Slytherin table. Everyone turned to see some of them jump up and start to run away.  
  
Their food had apparently turned to flies and spiders and rats (at least that's what they were screaming). Only those involved in the prank had their food changed. After a few minutes of fear, they noticed that all of the food wasn't real. It was a spell.  
  
Everyone started to laugh when they realized that they were all hallucinating. Kat turned towards Harry and Adrian.  
  
"I'm guessing you had something to do with this?" They nodded, laughing to hard to speak.  
  
"Hey! We helped!" Fred and George said from behind Adrian and Harry.  
  
"They did the spell for us." They grinned evilly, before winking and bowing to Kat. They walked away quickly before Percy got suspicious.  
  
"Thank you guys." They smiled at her.  
  
"Hey, no one does something to our friend without hell being paid right back." Adrian said, winking at her.  
  
"Don't curse Adrian." Kat said, rolling her eyes. His face fell as Harry and Sarah roared with laughter.  
  
Hoped you liked this chapter! Read and review. 


	5. SNIVELLUS TRIED TO KILL ME!

Three day weekend! YEAH! Then only FOUR days left in school!  
  
Disclaimer: I didn't make Harry Potter, only the three other Marauder children and their mums.  
  
Warnings: None.  
  
Thanks to all my reviewers:  
  
Magic Crystal Rose: I realize that the story follows the books a lot, but after I finish this one and the second book, it's really going to get different because I've changed a lot of things Sirius and Peter did or didn't do. They'll get farther from the books, I promise! The fourth will go back to being close though. Thanks for the review.  
  
Lady Verrissa: Okay, calm down! No cursing. Hehe. I'll try to add some more Adrian description.  
  
Iluska: Glad you like the story.  
  
Rouge07: I WANT YOUR STORY UP! I LIKE IT! Good guess about the relationship, you were so close.  
  
Sab  
  
The Way it Should Have Been  
  
Chapter Five: SNIVELLUS TRIED TO KILL ME!!!!  
  
Harry had never been so worried. Saturday was his first Quidditch game and it was against Slytherin. No one had even seen Harry train, Wood didn't want anyone to see just how good Harry really was. Everyone had found out that he was the new Seeker though and it got irritating because everyone was congratulating him or wishing him good luck, telling him that they hoped he could stay on his broom (the Slytherins wishing him off his broom).  
  
He was also never happier that Kat was his friend, or he wouldn't have any of his homework done.  
  
The Friday before the game the four were outside during break, Harry reading Quidditch Though the Ages, the book Sirius had given him for his birthday. They were huddled together against the bitter wind.  
  
"Why is Snape limping?" Adrian asked, his dark blue eyes squinted against the wind. Since Sarah and Kat had their backs to him, they turned slightly to see. He was limping badly on his leg and wincing slightly.  
  
"Dunno, but I think it has something to do with the dog." Harry said, taking his eyes off the book. Sarah gasped.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because last night on my way back from detention (Adrian, Harry and the twins were busted with the prank on the Slytherins and were given detention) I saw him talking to Filch. His leg was bleeding and he said something about watching all three heads." The three stared at him, mouths open and eyes large. "What?" he finally asked.  
  
"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Kat demanded, pushing a strand of her auburn hair behind her ear.  
  
"I forgot." He answered sheepishly, shrugging. Kat and Adrian groaned.  
  
"Why would he go to fight that dog anyway? It's evil." Adrian muttered angrily, watching Snape limp away.  
  
"I don't know." Kat said when they looked at her.  
  
After hard weeks of training, it was finally Harry's first Quidditch game and he was nervous.  
  
"I'm going to be sick." He looked at his food and turned a slight color of green. Adrian snickered before patting Harry on the back.  
  
"Eat up mate. You'll need it." Harry shook his head, shrugging Adrian's tan hand off of his shoulder.  
  
"No touch." Kat rolled her amber eyes and took a bite of sausage.  
  
"Adrian is right Harry. You'll need some strength." Kat tried to get him to eat, but he refused.  
  
Finally it was the match time. Harry followed the twins to the locker room as the rest of the school piled out into the stadium.  
  
In the locker room the team waited in their scarlet uniforms for Oliver to start speaking.  
  
"Okay everyone. It's time. This is it. The team's better than ever. We're going to win. It's our turn." He looked around and nodded. "Right. Good luck." He led the way onto the field, to the screaming crowd. Harry breathed deeply, when he saw the Marauders waving signs that said "Go Harry!" on them and Hagrid in the stands as well. He calmed down greatly.  
  
"Now, I want this to be a clean and fair game from everyone." Madam Hooch said, looking around. Harry swallowed in fear when he saw the Slytherin captain, Marcus Flint.  
  
'He has to related to a troll or something.' He thought about the mean looking sixth year.  
  
"Mount your brooms." He hopped on and waited for the whistle. As soon as it blew shrilly into the air he and the rest of the teams and Madam Hooch rose into the air and the game began.  
  
A friend of the twins, Lee Jordan, was the commentary and he went quickly along with the match. Harry watched from above the pitch, watching out for the snitch. Oliver had told him to stay out of trouble as long as possible and he did so, amazed at how tough the Slytherins played.  
  
They were deliberately trying to knock the Chasers off their brooms. He dodged Bludgers, keeping his eyes open.  
  
Finally he spotted the Snitch. He raced after it, flying downward, neck and neck with the Slytherin seeker. He almost had it until Marcus Flint blocked him. The Snitch was gone, but Gryffindor got a free shot at the goal.  
  
All of the Gryffindors were furious. Dean was yelling about red cards (something which most of the first year Gryffindors had to ask him what it was) Hagrid protested saying they should change rules and even Lee couldn't help but take sides.  
  
"The Gryffindor team gets a free shot at the goal due to the pathetic and disgusting foul against the Seeker-"  
  
"Jordan." After several more blurts against the Slytherins, McGonagall warning him, Lee finally gave up and continued as usual.  
  
Harry wasn't listening, because just seconds ago his broom had lurched against his will and he was almost thrown off.  
  
"What's wrong with Harry's broom?" Sarah asked. Kat looked through her binoculars until she saw Snape muttering something.  
  
"Snivellus is trying to kill Harry!" she gasped, throwing her binoculars to Adrian and racing towards the teacher's stand.  
  
"What?" Adrian and Sarah looked at each other, before looking back up to Harry. He was holding on with his life and everyone watched in horror. Marcus scored a point, but no one noticed. When Harry slipped off, everyone screamed.  
  
Fred and George flew under him, but he was able to get back on. The broom jerked, but he held on.  
  
When Kat finally reached the teacher's stand she snuck under them quietly looking for Snape. When she saw him she quietly whispered a spell and Snape's cape flew up into flames. He knocked Quirrell, the Herbology teacher and another teacher over trying to stomp the flames out.  
  
The broom stopped lurching around and Harry tried to move it. It went with his command and everyone cheered as he flew around the pitch once. The game resumed, Kat watching from next to the teacher's stand.  
  
Harry kept his watch as the game commenced and he finally saw the Snitch. So did the other Seeker. They hurtled downwards after the Snitch, Harry barely in the lead. He got closer and closer until he leaned too far. He fell off his broom headfirst and landed on the ground. Everyone groaned and watched as he stood up and held his hand out. He opened his palm and there was the Snitch.  
  
He smiled and held it up as the rest of the team came down and clapped him on the back. The Marauders came out of the stands and hugged him. Everyone cheered and clapped as the Slytherin team sulked off the field.  
  
"It was Snape Harry. He tried to throw you off your broom." Kat told him as they followed Hagrid to his hut. They clambered in as Harry thought about what Kat had just said.  
  
"What? SNIVELLUS TRIED TO KILL ME?" Hagrid turned around and gave them a bewildered look before making them some tea.  
  
"Tell the whole world Harry."  
  
"Shut up Adrian. A teacher just tried to kill me."  
  
"What are yeh talkin' 'bout? What teacher?"  
  
"Snape just tried to kill me. And I bet it's because I found out he tried to get past that three headed dog." The Marauders shushed him, until they noticed Hagrid's face.  
  
"How do you know about Fluffy?"  
  
"Fluffy? You named that monster Fluffy?" Adrian gasped, lowering his tea from his mouth.  
  
"O' course I named him! He's mine. Lent him to Dumbledore to guard the- never mind."  
  
"Hagrid! Snape's going to steal it!" Kat cried, almost spilling her tea on Adrian.  
  
"Rubbish! Snape wouldn't steal it or kill yeh Harry. And yer meddlin' in stuff yeh outta leave alone. It has nuttin' to do with none of yeh. It's between Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel. Oh no!" He groaned as Kat grinned.  
  
The next few weeks found the four digging through the library every night and during every break. Adrian and Harry had gone to Hagrid one morning after breakfast to get more information, but he refused to say anymore about it.  
  
"Kat we've looked through hundreds of books! It's not here!" Adrian protested. "And I've never gotten so many paper cuts in my whole life!" He held his fingers in front of her face.  
  
"Oh stop whining Adrian. He has to be in here somewhere." Harry and Adrian glanced at each other. Both had wished that they signed up to go home like Sarah. Kat was staying too and she planned to look in the library the whole time.  
  
It was mid-December and Christmas was coming fast. They continued to pester Hagrid at every chance they had, but he refused to say anything else. So they were stuck looking blindly for a book they didn't know they were looking for. They didn't ask the librarian in case anyone found out.  
  
The holidays started eventually so Harry and Adrian started sleeping in. Kat seemed lonely without Sarah, and because she was the only first year Gryffindor girl. They were pretty much the only ones in Gryffindor, other than a few fourth years, and one or two seventh years.  
  
The three got the good seats in front of the fire and they roasted all kinds of stuff and drank hot chocolate. Even Kat seemed to forget about Flamel. And Christmas Eve they said good night happily to each other and fell asleep when their heads hit the pillows.  
  
They awoke the next morning to Kat sitting on Neville's bed and several feet of snow.  
  
"How'd you get in here?" Adrian groaned, rolling over. Harry yawned and wished everyone a Merry Christmas.  
  
"I got in through the door." Harry laughed and spotted the huge pile of gifts. Kat brought hers into the dorm. They grinned at each other before digging in.  
  
They each got something from each other, their parents, each other's parents, Hagrid, Sarah and Sarah's parents.  
  
'Wonder what this is?' Harry thought, picking the light package up that said:  
  
To the Marauders. Love the ex-Marauders: Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and  
Wormtail.  
  
"Whose it from?" Adrian asked, looking through a book Kat gave him.  
  
"Our dads. It's to all four of us." They moved over to Harry as he ripped the package open. Out of fell a silvery cloak. They gasped and stared at the cloak.  
  
"Oh Merlin! It's an Invisibility Cloak!" Adrian gasped out and Harry grabbed the note on top of the cloak.  
  
"To Harry. This was mine and I figured that since the old Marauders used it for mischief, that the new Marauders could use it. Use it well. Love, Dad"  
  
"I know what we can do with it." Kat said. "The only place in the library we haven't looked is the Restricted Section. We'll go tonight."  
  
"You actually want to break rules?" Adrian asked her.  
  
"It says to "Use it well" And that's what we'll be doing. Why not?"  
  
"I think you're around us too much." Harry told us before he put it on. "Hey look! No body!" Kat groaned and poked Harry.  
  
"Still solid."  
  
"It makes you invisible! Not air." Harry told, wrapping an arm around her shoulder so half of her body was gone.  
  
"That looks so cool!" Adrian ran a hand though his hair.  
  
"Tonight then?" Adrian and Harry nodded.  
  
"Why do we have to do everything?" Adrian whispered in Harry's ear that night. They were under the Invisibility Cloak heading towards the library. Harry had a lantern held in front of them and Adrian had one under the cloak.  
  
"Because we're the men of the group. We're also the ones who'll get in trouble and not care."  
  
"I bet Moony stayed behind too. Wormtail stayed behind too I bet."  
  
"Look at it this way. We're the truly brave ones. We risk our lives for the reputation of the lovely Kat. And probably the adorable Sarah." Adrian snorted and opened the library doors. They looked around and went into the Restricted Section and slipped the cloak off, Harry draping it over his arm.  
  
"So what do we look for?" Adrian asked. Harry shrugged.  
  
"Anything that might look useful. Something modern." Adrian nodded and went to the opposite end of the section.  
  
"We'll meet again in the middle." Harry held his lantern up, but it was too hard to read any of the books. The letters were peeling and old, and it odd languages. One book looked pretty much unused and new so he grabbed it and opened it.  
  
And it screamed. He gasped and knocked his lantern over and Adrian came up next to him. Harry slammed the book shut and they ducked under the cloak as the shrill scream continued to echo around the library.  
  
They ducked Filch and ran until they ran out of breath near a door.  
  
"Nice going Harry."  
  
"Hey the book didn't look old. It's Kat's fault."  
  
"A student is out of bed." They turned slowly to see Snape walking with Filch towards the library.  
  
"We'll find them. They couldn't have gotten far." They crept backwards to the door and creaked it open.  
  
It looked like an old classroom and in the middle was a huge mirror with some odd writing on it. It was gold and had clawed feet.  
  
"I'm going to get Kat." Harry nodded and threw the cloak to Adrian. Harry looked around the mirror, not seeing anything but his reflection. 'Wonder what the words mean?' He sat in a desk and waited for Kat and Adrian.  
  
They came in after ten minutes or so. "What is going on?" Kat demanded, until she saw the mirror.  
  
"Wow." She stepped closer and looked in it. Her eyes widened and she blushed a bright red color, even in the dark.  
  
"What?" Harry asked and Adrian stepped next to her. He gasped softly and stepped away, rubbing his arm, embarrassed.  
  
"What do you guys see?" He looked in the mirror and saw only the three of them.  
  
"Don't you see it?" She asked.  
  
"I see the three of us."  
  
"Thank Merlin." Adrian groaned.  
  
"I don't see what the excitement is about."  
  
"I am not surprised." They turned to see Dumbledore sitting behind them on a desk. They gasped and stepped away from the mirror.  
  
"Professor!" He nodded and stepped closer.  
  
"You've found the Mirror of Erised I see." They nodded. "Do you know what it does?" They whispered no and he smiled at them, stepping closer. "I'll give you a hint. A person who saw only himself is totally happy."  
  
"It shows us what we want to see." Kat squeaked, refusing to look at Adrian.  
  
"Yes. Harry you have everything you could want. Your parents, a good home, good friends, you're making your parents proud. Kat and Adrian are happy just as you. But they want something that you don't, or that you aren't thinking about right now."  
  
"What?" He asked them. They blushed and didn't answer.  
  
"Perhaps in good time they will tell you. But the Mirror is being moved. Don't go looking for it." They nodded and he swept out of the room. They stood there for several more seconds before going under the cloak and heading back to Gryffindor Tower.  
  
When they got in the common room Adrian and Kat were still blushing and they wouldn't look at each other. Kat whispered good night before heading to the girl's dorms and Harry followed Adrian to their room.  
  
"What did you see?" He asked as they got ready for bed.  
  
"Promise not to tell Kat?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I saw us together."  
  
"Like how together?"  
  
"Like a couple. We were dancing, holding hands, you know, couple-dating- stuff."  
  
"You want to marry Kat!" Harry laughed, falling on his bed.  
  
"No, I just like her." Harry's glasses fell off when Adrian whacked him the head with his pillow. "Shut up Harry."  
  
"Okay, okay fine. I won't tell her. I wander what she saw."  
  
"Don't know. I won't ask either. So drop it." Adrian slid under the covers of his bed and mumbled a "Good night"  
  
"Night." Harry said back, before falling asleep.  
  
Hope you liked the chapter. Review whether you loved it or if you hated it. 


	6. Into the Woods We Go

SUMMER IS HERE MY FRIENDS! I AM SO EXCITED! I AM A SOPHOMORE! AND I SAW HARRY POTTER 3! It's really good, (Sirius and Remus were wonderful), but I wished they would have explained the whole Pettigrew thing, 'cause they didn't. Still good though.  
  
Thanks to all my reviewers, lots of love. (Hollywoodgurl-is that really your name? That's cool!)  
  
Warnings: nope  
  
Disclaimer: Not mine.  
  
The Way it Should Have Been  
  
Chapter Six: Into the Woods We Go  
  
Sarah got back and wasn't surprised about the cloak. "My dad told me about it."  
  
"Did you find anything about Flamel?" Sarah had agreed to ask her parents, but neither of them knew anything.  
  
"We will never find him!" Harry groaned, throwing his quill onto the table. Quidditch practice had started again and he was really stressed. Kat helped him with homework every night and he fell asleep before all the others in the dorm.  
  
One day they were in the library and Kat was talking to Hermione about some homework assignment. She looked at what Hermione was reading and she gasped loudly.  
  
"Hermione can I borrow this for a few minutes?" Hermione nodded, giving Kat an odd look. Kat picked the huge book up and carried it to their table.  
  
"And you would read that because?" Harry asked at the enormous book.  
  
"Just listen." She looked around for a few minutes, flipping through a couple of pages. "Here! Nicolas Flamel is the only known maker of the Sorcerer's Stone."  
  
"Sorcerer's Stone, Sorcerer's Stone. Where have I heard of that before?" Adrian asked looking her in the eye. They blushed slightly and Kat looked back down at the book.  
  
"It's a stone that will produce the Elixir of Life and can transform metal into pure gold."  
  
"I bet that's what Fluffy is guarding." Harry said.  
  
"Flamel must have asked Dumbledore to guard it, so he asked Hagrid for Fluffy." Adrian finished and the two boys grinned at each other. Kat nodded and Sarah sat quietly for a few seconds.  
  
"No wonder Snape wants it." They nodded and Kat returned the book to Hermione.  
  
The next Quidditch match was against Hufflepuff. Harry wasn't very nervous, even if Snape was referring. He knew the other three had a plan if Snape tried anything. There weren't any goals yet and everyone was playing a rather fair game.  
  
Then suddenly he saw the Snitch. He streaked after it quickly, rushing past Snape and wrapping his fingers around the small ball. The crowds went insane, the game wasn't even five minutes long.  
  
He landed and everyone congratulated him, especially Oliver. There was a small party that night in the common room but it was the last fun thing for a while.  
  
Kat and Hermione were going exam crazy. They were comparing notes, and setting up different studying schedules. They sat together in every class and did homework together every night.  
  
The four were in the library studying one day when they saw Hagrid and asked if they could see him later that night. He agreed, looking nervous.  
  
That night they entered the hut and Hagrid offered them tea and sandwiches. Kat took one to be nice, but the others said they weren't hungry.  
  
"So what did yeh want ter ask me?"  
  
"What else is guarding the Stone besides Fluffy?" Harry asked immediately. Hagrid groaned.  
  
"Hoped it was somethin' else." He muttered quietly. "I don't know ter tell yeh the truth. If I did, I wouldn't tell yeh. So off yeh go." He tried to get them out the door, but Kat refused to go.  
  
"You know everything Hagrid. We just want to know helped." He smiled besides himself and he nodded.  
  
"Professor Sprout, Flitwick, McGonagall, Quirrell, Snape and Dumbledore o' course."  
  
"Snape?" Adrian groaned, falling against the doorframe.  
  
"Yeah. An' why would he steal it? Now out all four o' yeh." They nodded when Sarah saw something move in the fire.  
  
"What's that?" she gasped falling away from it and landing on Adrian. He yelped in pain and Hagrid quickly moved to the fire.  
  
"It's nuttin'. Now out!" They nodded and quickly left. Walking to the castle they talked about what they would do now.  
  
"It couldn't be Snape then." Harry reasoned.  
  
"Then who could it be?" Adrian asked.  
  
"Don't know, but we shouldn't worry about it." Kat said, trying to get them to be quiet.  
  
"What? Kat! This could be bad!" Sarah told her, grabbing her arm and stopping her.  
  
"Sarah. It already is bad." The three turned to see McGonagall standing at the top of the stairs.  
  
"Hello. Enjoy your walk?" They gulped and looked at each other guiltily. "Follow me."  
  
Ten minutes later they were walking back to the Tower and Adrian was telling McGonagall off.  
  
"I can't believe that evil-"  
  
"Adrian! Stop we were wandering after dark. We deserved a detention." Kat reasoned with him for the sixth time.  
  
"It won't be that bad anyway so stop shouting. We've had tons of detentions." Harry said the password and they separated for their dorms.  
  
It turns out that they had detention in the Forbidden Forest that Saturday. "Okay, so it could bad." Harry said as they followed Filch to Hagrid's cabin.  
  
"I don't want to go in there." Sarah whispered.  
  
"Stay next to Hagrid, he's big." Kat told her. She nodded and Hagrid waved at them, wiping his eyes with a large handkerchief.  
  
"Where'd ya send him to Hagrid?" Filch asked.  
  
"Norbert's in Romania with a dragon colony." He sniffed again and Filch rolled his eyes.  
  
"Get over it man! You're lucky Dumbledore didn't turn you in for having a dragon." The four gasped.  
  
"So that's what that was!" Kat grinned at Hagrid and he nodded.  
  
"Yeah. He'll be happy in Romania, I hope. He should be. Won't he?"  
  
"Of course he will." Adrian said, nudging Harry's side. Hagrid nodded.  
  
"Well we've got a job tonight. Thank you Filch." He nodded and walked up in his creepy way up to the castle. Adrian shook his head.  
  
"He's creepy." Harry and Kat snorted with laughter.  
  
"Alright. We have to find somethin' that's been killing unicorns in the forest."  
  
"Unicorns?" Kat squeaked. Adrian hugged her. Harry was glad they got over their embarrassment. It was quiet without them talking to each other.  
  
"Let's go. Sarah an' Kat yer with me. Adrian an' Harry get Fang."  
  
He led them to the forest edge and showed them something on the ground that was silvery and glowed eerily in the moonlight.  
  
"Unicorn blood. One's hurt. We're lookin' for it. Stay to the paths, send up green sparks if yeh find the unicorn, red if yer in trouble. Right? Off we go." They Marauders waved to each other as they set off in different directions.  
  
"Well this is a cheery place." Adrian said holding their lantern up. Harry chuckled.  
  
"Let's move in here after Hogwarts. All four of us. You and Kat get your own room of course." Adrian smacked Harry's arm.  
  
"Ow." They glared at each other as Harry rubbed the sore spot on his arm. Suddenly they heard something moving off to the right. They spun around and Adrian held the lantern up. His hand was shaking and he almost dropped it. They looked at each other before agreeing.  
  
They walked forward slowly off the path when Harry pointed at something. It was white and gleamed on the ground.  
  
"The unicorn." Adrian sighed sadly and they stepped out from behind the trees to get a better look. It had long and graceful legs that were sticking out in opposite legs and it's mane fell across the dark leaves.  
  
Adrian grabbed Harry's arm to keep him from going forward. "What's that?" he asked. Something slithered forward out of the shadows and it began to drink the unicorn's blood. They both screamed and turned to run until Harry's cloak tripped him. Adrian stopped and tried to pull him to his feet.  
  
The creature saw the boys and started to inch forward; they were too scared too move. It slithered closer and closer until it froze, it's face unreadable underneath it's black hood. It hissed in fear and flew away as a large horse galloped out of the bushes behind them.  
  
"Are you two alright?" it asked. They nodded, staring at the centaur.  
  
"Do you know what unicorn blood is used for?" They looked at each other, before shaking their heads no. "The most terrible thing is to slay a unicorn. The blood of a unicorn can keep anyone an inch from death. To kill something so pure and innocent to save yourself will give you a cursed life."  
  
"Who'd be that desperate?" Adrian asked the centaur.  
  
"Is there no one?"  
  
"Voldermort." They whispered together in fear. The centaur nodded and held his hand out to help Harry up.  
  
Harry finally got to his feet when Hagrid ran into the clearing followed by Kat and Sarah.  
  
"Hello Firenze." Hagrid said calmly, staring at the unicorn. Kat and Sarah gave dry sobs at the beautiful unicorn. "Thank you fer watchin' Harry." It bowed it's head to the boys.  
  
"You are safe with your friends." They bowed back and the centaur nodded to Hagrid before looking at Kat and Sarah.  
  
"The stars are on your side young lady." Kat gasped when the centaur took her hand. "You are like a unicorn, do not become like the one lying here." Kat looked into his eyes, her eyebrows squashed together. "And you will become a hero." With his other hand he held Sarah's. The girls looked at him in delight and confusion.  
  
"Good night." The centaur walked off looking up at the stars. Hagrid rolled his eyes.  
  
"Never understand them. Don't yeh two worry 'bout what he said." They nodded slowly as if they were in another world.  
  
They got back to the common room hours later and sat down talking about what Firenze said.  
  
"It was Voldermort." Sarah shivered at the name. "It had to be. Who else wouldn't care about killing something like a unicorn for their own reasons?" Harry paced back and forth in front of the empty fireplace.  
  
"So Snape will get the Stone for Voldermort?" Adrian guessed.  
  
"We don't know if it's Snape!" Kat exclaimed.  
  
"It has to be Kat." Harry was still rambling on about stars and centaurs, Voldermort and Snape, Stones, dragons.  
  
"Harry! Calm down! Voldermort was afraid of Dumbledore. With him here, Hogwarts is safe."  
  
"I'm worried about Neville. I don't think he could take Voldermort on." Harry sighed heavily and sat down on the couch.  
  
"I agree mate. He's so clumsy."  
  
"Maybe he'll go into being a great hero." Sarah pointed out.  
  
"Maybe." Harry ran a hand though his hair and making it messy than ever. "Oh I don't know. I think I'm thinking too hard."  
  
"Hey let's sleep it off and go talk to Dumbledore in the morning. How about that? We'll let him handle it while we take the exams." Adrian nodded at everyone and after several silent seconds they all agreed as well.  
  
I know. This chapter is a lot shorter. The next chapter will be the last for the first book. I'll take a break for a week or so and then start with the second book.  
  
I'm going on vacation for a week starting tomorrow. I'll be home for three days, then I'm going on another for five days or so. Sooooo, don't expect much from me for a while. Sorry!  
  
Don't forget to review! 


	7. The End of the Year

I reloaded chapter one, so if you haven't reread it yet and want to understand anything better, it's a lot easier to read.  
  
Warnings: A little one for the OOTP. Only if you squint though.  
  
Disclaimer: Don't own, never will.  
  
Love to all my reviewers! (This will answer all of your questions Magic Crystal Rose)  
  
The Way It Should Have Been  
  
Chapter Seven: The End of the Year  
  
"I can't believe Dumbledore left! Now Voldermort can just waltz right on into the castle, kill Neville, oh this is horrible!" Adrian let his head fall onto his desk and Kat casually looked up from her book.  
  
"Adrian it'll be okay. I promise. Besides we have the exams to worry about."  
  
Several days later, Adrian, Harry and Sarah were still nervous about Voldermort and couldn't believe the exams.  
  
"This is torture!" Sarah said, picking at her food.  
  
"Just one more exam! That's it! And it's an easy one!" Kat tried to assure them. Harry blinked at her with large tired eyes.  
  
"Easy for you to say. I can't sleep I'm so nervous!"  
  
"We would have heard something if someone got past Fluffy. I think we're okay." Kat rubbed his arm and he nodded.  
  
"One week of nothing to do. I love it." Adrian said later that afternoon. They lived through their first exams. They were sitting outside enjoying the weather, when Kat sat straight up.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I thought of something." She raced off to Hagrid's with the others trying to keep up.  
  
"Hagrid, what did the man look like that gave you Norbert?" Hagrid looked at her like she was crazy.  
  
"Kept his hood up." Kat sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.  
  
"What did you talk about?"  
  
"I told him I worked here. What kind o' animals I watched over. Especially how I wanted a dragon." He paused, thinking hard. "I told him a dragon would be easy after Fluffy. Yeh just gotta know how ter tame em. Just play a bit o' music and he'll fall right asleep." Kat grinned and Hagrid looked horrified.  
  
"Should not have told yeh that. Where are yeh going?" They raced off towards the castle, Kat in the lead. When they reached the castle, Kat looked around making sure no one was around.  
  
"We go get the stone tonight. Get it before anyone else can."  
  
"Kat that's nuts! We can't tell Neville everything we learned over the year in under four hours!" Sarah said.  
  
"Besides Neville could not take Voldermort on. No offense Sarah."  
  
"We won't tell Neville Adrian. We'll go after it, just the four of us."  
  
That night was nerve-wrecking. They could hardly eat or sleep and Ron was surprised when Adrian refused him a game of chess.  
  
Finally it was twenty to midnight and they snuck down the stairs, meeting by the fireplace.  
  
"Ready?" They nodded and Harry shifted the cloak on his shoulder when Neville stood up from behind a chair.  
  
"Neville!" Sarah gasped. The other three froze and looked at him with terror in their eyes.  
  
"You can't go out! We'll lose more points."  
  
"Oh Neville move, it'll be alright." Kat said stepping forth and putting her hand on his arm.  
  
"No!" he said, brushing her hand off. "I'll keep you in here! I'll fight you." Adrian rolled his eyes.  
  
"Don't make me do this Neville." He looked at Kat and she took out her wand.  
  
"Petrificus Totalus!" Neville froze up and fell backwards onto the floor. They looked at Kat and she shrugged.  
  
"Someone should stay with him." Harry suggested.  
  
"I'll do it, I'm not for fighting someone older." Sarah squeaked. Kat hugged her.  
  
"If we're not back within an two hours send an owl to Dumbledore alright?" she nodded and Harry and Adrian hugged her as well.  
  
They walked carefully under the cloak, not making any noise. They hardly even breathed. They reached the third floor and slipped in the door, before taking the cloak off. Harry left it by the door and they breathed a sigh of relief that Fluffy was asleep.  
  
A harp was close to the door and it was enchanted to play. Adrian opened the trapdoor and looked down.  
  
"It's a long way down. Anyone volunteer to go first?" Kat shook her head no and they looked at Harry.  
  
"Fine I'll go first." He looked down, gulped before jumping down. "Urgh!" he cried when he landed.  
  
"What is it Harry?"  
  
"I don't know. It's really soft though." Adrian motioned for Kat to go first saying he'd close the door. Just as Kat moved to the door the harp stopped playing. They looked back and then up to see Fluffy blink sleepily.  
  
Kat screamed and Adrian pushed her in quickly before jumping in himself. They landed and Adrian groaned.  
  
"Nasty. What is it?" Harry shrugged before Kat screamed out.  
  
"Watch out!" The boys looked down and saw that thick dark green vines wound themselves around their legs. It continued to wind it's self up their bodies and they started to struggle against it.  
  
"What is it?" Adrian gasped.  
  
"Devil's Snare. I can't think how to kill it." She was sitting still, while the boys struggled. "Don't struggle." They cried to calm down, but it was useless.  
  
"It likes the dark and damp. Of course!" she lit a small fire with her wand and the plant shrieked, releashing them. They jumped up and ran away from it, Adrian rubbing his neck.  
  
"Well that was fun."  
  
"Come on." They walked down the dark passageway when they heard something from the other side of the door.  
  
"It sounds like birds." Kat said as Adrian opened the large wooden door. They looked up to see thousands of keys with wings.  
  
"Keys?" They walked forward and in the middle of the room was a floating broomstick. Adrian walked to the other side of the room and tried to unlock the door.  
  
"Seems we have to get a key to unlock the door." Adrian pouted, joining the other two.  
  
"Which one?" Harry asked, looking up at the keys.  
  
"An old and big one. Silver. The handle was silver." Kat and Adrian looked up.  
  
"I see it." Harry pointed at a key that went slower than the rest. "It's the one with the broken wing." Harry looked down at the broom and grabbed it. Instantly the keys started flying around quicker and towards Harry.  
  
"Right. We'll be by the door." Adrian grabbed Kat's arm, pulling her while Harry swung his arms around.  
  
"It's too your left!" Kat cried. Harry looked left and saw it. He reached for it, but it sped away. He sped the broom faster and followed it up and around the room. Finally he caught and jumped down racing to the door. He put it into the hole and ripped the door open. Kat and Adrian slammed it shut.  
  
"Good job Harry!" He smiled at them.  
  
"Yeah, sure. No problem. Just simple flying." Adrian smirked and they looked around the dark room. They stepped forward and lights came on showing a huge chessboard.  
  
"Whoa." Harry blinked and when they tried to get past the white pieces the pawns stopped them with swords. "Right. Guess we play across."  
  
Three spots were missing and Adrian told them to take them. Harry and Kat took the place of a castle and bishop while Adrian took the place of a knight.  
  
White moved first and then Adrian took control, telling each pawn where to move. Not long after playing the white queen took a pawn, smashing it off the board and into a thousand pieces.  
  
"This is like real wizard chess?" Kat squeaked. Adrian nodded grimly and kept them where they were as much as possible. The white team were ruthless and took a lot of black players when one of theirs was.  
  
After a while Adrian stopped to think and his face fell.  
  
"What Adrian?" Kat asked fearfully.  
  
"Harry?" Harry looked around.  
  
"Adrian! You'll be killed!"  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
"I have to move so the queen can take me. Then Harry can check the king." Kat's eyes grew wide with fear.  
  
"No Adrian." He smiled softly at her before moving. The queen turned to him before striking him across the board to the side. Kat screamed and Harry moved stiffly, praying that Adrian was okay. The king dropped his sword when Harry called checkmate and then they rushed to Adrian's side. Kat ran her hand through his hair.  
  
"He'll be okay. Come on." Harry took Kat's hand and they went into the next chamber to see a troll laying on the floor.  
  
"Onward then I guess." They stole into the next room and saw seven bottles on a table. Purple flames shot up from behind as black came up in front.  
  
They looked around and walked forward. Kat picked up a piece of parchment and read it, before laughing.  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's a riddle! I was expecting magic." Harry looked at her as she reread it and then looking at the bottles, before reading it again.  
  
"Do you get it?"  
  
"Yes. The smallest will take us forward and the round one at the right end will take us back." They looked at the bottles then at each other.  
  
"There's only enough for one to go forward." Harry said. "You go back and get Adrian. Go get Sarah and head to the owlery and owl Dumbledore." Kat nodded and drank the potion before hugging Harry and running through the flames.  
  
He drunk the small one and shivered at the icy flavor. He walked slowly towards the flames then jumped though and he was in the last chamber with someone else.  
  
"QUIRRELL?" Harry gasped staring at the teacher. He smirked wickedly.  
  
"Yes, surprised?"  
  
"I thought it was Snape."  
  
"Seems the type next to p-p-poor s-s-stuttering P-Professor Quirrell." Harry shook his head.  
  
"But the Quidditch match?"  
  
"When Ms. Lupin set Snape's cloak on fire he knocked into me, breaking MY contact. He was muttering the countercurse." That thought didn't register with Harry.  
  
"Snivellus tried to save me?" Quirrell nodded before turning his back to Harry.  
  
"How does this work?" he muttered and Harry realized that he was looking into the Mirror of Erised. Quirrell walked around the mirror muttering.  
  
"I see myself with it. How do I get it out?" Quirrell touched his reflection and Harry wished to have the Stone more than anything right now. He edged to the left trying to see into the mirror, but Quirrell was in the way.  
  
Then a voice seemed to come from Quirrell. "Use the boy." Quirrell turned quickly.  
  
"Come here Potter." He slowly stumbled forward and Quirrell walked forward grabbing his arm and forcing him in front of the mirror. In his reflection he saw himself take the Stone out of his pocket before he felt a small weight added to his pants. "What do you see?"  
  
"I just won the house cup." Quirrell cursed before the voice spoke again.  
  
"He lies. Let me talk to him."  
  
"You are not strong enough Master."  
  
"Does not matter." Quirrell unwrapped the turban to show Harry the back of his head. In it's spot was a horrible face of white with red eyes.  
  
"Harry Potter. How extraordinary to see you and not Longbottom." it whispered. "Perhaps I chose wrong. No matter now. You will not stop me, not like Neville Longbottom did ten years ago. Now give me the Stone." Harry felt something and he took the Stone out of his pocket before looking Voldermort in the eye.  
  
"NEVER!" He turned to run but Quirrell grabbed his arm. Harry kicked his leg out and it landed in Quirrell's stomach. He tried to run again, the Stone firmly in his fist when Quirrell tackled him to the ground. He wrapped his fingers around Harry's throat and he gasped for air.  
  
"Get the Stone." Voldermort hissed. Harry's gaze started to go fuzzy but he would not let go of the Stone, not now. Not even as the air around him turned black and he lost conscious.

* * *

"Harry, it's time to wake up." He opened his eyes to see the face of Albus Dumbledore.  
  
"Professor, Quirrell has the stone." Dumbledore shushed him.  
  
"No dear boy he does not. I got there in time to rip him off of you. Afraid it killed him in the process."  
  
"You got the owl?" Harry sat up, but Dumbledore pushed him back down.  
  
"No, I decided that I was needed here more than at the Ministry. I arrived several hours before I saved you. I ran into Ms. Lupin and Ms. Pettigrew on their way to the owlery."  
  
"Is Adrian alright? How long have I been in the Hospital wing?"  
  
"He's fine. The three of them will be quite happy to see you alive. You have been in here for three days now." Harry smiled.  
  
"What happened to Voldermort?" Dumbledore raised a thin silver eyebrow.  
  
"I'm not sure Harry. He most likely went into hiding, awaiting a new servant to take care of him." Harry closed his eyes in pain. "I best leave you now. You need the rest."  
  
"Professor wait. Voldermort said something I didn't understand. He said that "perhaps he chose wrong". What did he mean?" Dumbledore's light blue eyes grew cloudy.  
  
"I'm not sure you're old enough to know. Eventually I will speak to you about it, but for now rest." Harry nodded and Dumbledore swept out of the room.  
  
The next day the others came to visit him. "The whole school knows what happened Harry." Adrian said.  
  
"Figured. The exams out yet?"  
  
"Came out yesterday. Here you are." Kat handed them to him as they passed around a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.  
  
"We have to go now Harry."  
  
"Yeah, we'll see you tomorrow." They hugged him and left.  
  
At the feast the next day there were green Slytherin banners hanging all over the rafters high up in the ceiling. They ate the delicious food, somewhat solemnly until Dumbledore rose to give his good-bye speech.  
  
"Another year gone. I do hope you have learned something over this very eventful year." He looked over at the Marauders for a few quick seconds.  
  
"And the house cup goes to Slytherin this year-" They began to cheer and Dumbledore chuckled. "yes, but I do have some last minute points to give out." The students started to whisper until Dumbledore continued.  
  
"First to Mr. Adrian Black. Who played a great game of chess seen in many years. Fifty points to Gryffindor." He smiled, slightly confused and the Gryffindors cheered.  
  
"Next to Ms. Katarina Lupin of Gryffindor for her cool use of logic, fifty points." She blushed greatly and Adrian hugged her.  
  
"And to Mr. Harry Potter for true bravery and courage, sixty points." All the Gryffindors screamed with delight. They were now tied with Slytherin.  
  
"Lastly, there are many types of courage. The most of all is the courage to stand up to your friends. To Mr. Neville Longbottom I award ten points." The sound was deafening. Everyone tried to pat Neville on the back and he sat there dazed in confusion.  
  
"That means that Gryffindor wins the house cup!" He clapped his hands and instead of the green and silver were now red and gold.  
  
The next day they had to go home. "I don't wanna go!" Adrian fake cried. The others laughed as they helped him pack. Sarah and Kat packed after the feast and Harry packed earlier.  
  
"I miss home." Kat said, folding a shirt.  
  
"Yeah. I miss the dads always goofing off." Harry added. Soon they were on their way down to the train station, bags in tow. They handed their stuff to the conductor and saw Hagrid hurrying people onto the train. They ran over to him.  
  
"Hoping yeh'd come say good-bye." Kat and Sarah hugged him. "Oh don' go cryin'. Yeh'll make me start." Harry and Adrian hugged Hagrid too. "Onto the train with yeh."  
  
"Bye Hagrid!" They jumped on and soon they sped off through the countryside. They pulled their muggle clothes on and it took them forever to get off the train.  
  
"Harry!" he turned to see his mum and dad with the others. He ran over and his mum hugged him. They others did the same.  
  
"Have a good year kids?" Callista asked. They looked at each other and laughed.  
  
"You could say that." Adrian told her wrapping an arm around Harry and Kat's shoulders. Kat did the same to Sarah.  
  
"Can't wait for next year." Kat added.  
  
"Hope it's as eventful as this one." Harry finished and they laughed loudly, waving bye to all the Gryffindors.  
  
"See Moony? Knew they'd have fun." Sirius said grabbing hold of Remus's neck.  
  
"Can't breath Sirius." He laughed and apologized, before loosening his hold. Their wives rolled their eyes and led the way to the cars.  
  
"Wonder what next year really will be like?" Sarah wondered.  
  
"We'll have to wait won't we?" Harry raised his eyebrows and the four followed their parents out to the cars, already excited for another year.  
  
YEAH! One whole story done, six more to go. HEHE! I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I had writing it. I'm gonna take a short break from Harry Potter, but I'll start their second year really soon. Promise.  
  
Don't forget to review!  
  
Lots of love, Moony 


	8. Back to Hogwarts

YEAH! Year two. Sorry it took so long. I've had Driver's Ed and I've been reading a lot for school. Plus, I've had no inspiration for anything but Justin Long (YUM!) and Jeepers Creepers.  
  
Disclaimer: This story does not belong to me. Only Kat, Adrian, Sarah and their mothers do.  
  
Note: If you didn't notice, year 1 was more in Harry's POV than the others. All the stories are going to be this way and I'm changing it to first person. Year 2 is in Sarah's POV.  
  
The Way It Should Have Been  
  
Chapter One: Back to Hogwarts  
  
"We're going to be late Dad!" I whined softly. Peter looked in the rearview mirror and smiled softly.  
  
"No we won't Sarah." I rolled my eyes and continued to stare out the window as dad parked the car and we rushed out to the station. I gripped my ticket as we rushed through the barrier without looking suspicious, two minutes to go.  
  
I hugged my parents and gave my stuff up to the conductor as I climbed onto the train. I walked, making sure my wand was in my back pocket, looking for either Neville or my friends. I saw Hermione and the Weasleys before reaching the back compartment to see my friends.  
  
Kat was in the right corner, her nose in an old book. Adrian sat next to her, and Harry across from Kat. They were trading cards and I stepped in, shutting the door behind me.  
  
"Late?" Harry raised an eyebrow before glancing up at me while I sat next to him.  
  
"Yeah, dad wouldn't listen when I told him we needed to leave."  
  
"Kat has been here for an hour." Adrian poked her side and she laughed.  
  
"Stop!" He laughed, but lowered his hand.  
  
"Another year." Harry sighed contently and put his hands behind his head.  
  
"Wonder if anything exciting will happen." Kat smiled and lowered her book.  
  
"With these two boys, something is bound to happen Sarah." I laughed at the older girl.  
  
"Hey did you know that Gilderoy Lockhart was at Flourish and Blotts the other day?" I squealed while the others rolled their eyes. I mean he was just so handsome.  
  
"Harry and I were there the same day as Neville. Lockhart dragged him into a picture with him and gave him a free set of all his books." Adrian showed Harry a card, but Harry shook his head no.  
  
"He is so phony."  
  
"Kat! I thought all girls liked Lockhart! The blonde hair (Harry ran his hands through his hands like a vain model), the blue eyes (Adrian batted his eyes charmingly at Kat and she laughed), the fabulous smile..."  
  
"That's won him the Witch Weekly's Most-Charming-Smile Award five times in a row!" I butted in. I may be slow, but I knew they were making fun of him.  
  
"Please Sarah! How in the world could he have done all of those extremely dangerous things and not have a scratch anyone on that face?" I sat dumbfounded for a few seconds.  
  
"It's because he's the best!"  
  
"Mad-Eye-Moody is one of the best Aurors ever and his face is terribly scarred."  
  
"Who is Mad-Eye-Moody?" Kat sighed loudly and stuck the book back to her face. Harry and Adrian shrugged at each other before buying some food off of the cart.  
  
A few hours later we piled out of the train and followed the older students to hundreds of black carriages pulled by what seemed nothing. They drove up a hill and stopped in front of the school's front doors. We jumped out and walked forward into the Great Hall and sat at the long tables.  
  
Not long after the first years arrived and stood at the front. I smiled softly, remembering the fear of not knowing where you were going. It was obvious that we would all go to Gryffindor, but some weren't so obvious. Especially if they were muggle-born or only children, or if no one knew about them.  
  
When all were housed Dumbledore stood and started his speech. "Look! There's Lockhart!" Adrian nudged me and I squealed softly and stared at him. He had wavy blond hair and blue eyes that shone brightly, even across the hall. His smile went from ear to ear and every single one of his brilliantly white teeth shone at them. Next to him was Snape, looking as mean as ever: greasy hair, large nose, sour expression.  
  
"Seems Snape still has that stick up his arse." Harry snickered and Kat smiled softly.  
  
"Oh come on Sarah! That was funny!" Kat waved her hand in front of my face but I was too busy staring up at Lockhart to notice.  
  
"Guess he's the new Defense teacher." Kat sighed sadly as Dumbledore finished the introduction of Lockhart to the students (with a loud sigh from a lot of the girls, including myself) and grabbed some food onto her plate.  
  
"No way! He's the teacher of the Ridiculous Fashion class." Harry spit his pumpkin juice onto the table as he laughed. Kat starting laughing too and Adrian grinned proudly.  
  
"Oh come on! Give the god a break. We haven't even had a class with him yet!" I had to defend him.  
  
"Sorry Sarah. We didn't realize you were taking "the god's" fashion class." I sighed loudly again in irritation at Harry before eating some of the steak.  
  
"Really Sarah. We're sorry. We'll give him a chance." Adrian smiled softly at me before giving me a sad puppy-eyed look. Harry and Kat rolled their eyes and I nodded. Adrian was far too charming to not forgive.  
  
"It's okay." They smiled at me and continued to eat, talking about what we thought the new year would be like. Suddenly Neville ran into the Great Hall and sat down next to me. It took me several seconds to get over the butterflies in my stomach before talking to him.  
  
"Neville! Where were you?" He gasped for air before speaking.  
  
"Gran and I were late and the doorway to the train wouldn't open. We had to owl Dumbledore and he sent some people to bring me here."  
  
"Whoa! That's weird."  
  
"Wonder why Sarah didn't get caught outside too." Kat said, sipping her drink.  
  
"I don't know. How late were you Neville?"  
  
"We had about two minutes or less."  
  
"It closed right after dad, mum and I got through."  
  
"Well you're here and so is the food, so that's all that matters." Neville nodded as Harry clapped him on the back and he started to eat. That was until he saw Lockhart.  
  
"Oh no! What is that git doing here?"  
  
"New Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher." Kat grimaced as Adrian spoke the words and Neville's face fell even more.  
  
"Well this has defiantly not been a good day for me." He ran a hand through his brown hair and smiled sadly.  
  
"Oh Neville! It'll get better." I timidly put a hand on his shoulder and he blushed a bright red. I could feel my face light up as well and when he raised his head to look at me, I quickly took my hand away. I threw a look at Kat and Adrian to see them glancing at each other as well.  
  
"Neville!" We turned before a bright flash came out of nowhere. We all groaned and rubbed our eyes, trying to make the little dots go away. "HI Neville! I'm Collin Creevey and I've heard so much about you, even though I'm not from a wizarding family. I found this neat way to make regular pictures move like wizard pictures. Well I'll see you later!"  
  
"That kid is a bundle of energy." Adrian muttered after the shock of picture attack passed over them.  
  
"Who cares? I still can't see anything." Kat laughed and held up two fingers in front of Harry's face.  
  
"How many fingers?"  
  
"Uh...four?"  
  
"Two."  
  
"So I doubled it." She smiled and lowered her hand.  
  
"You'll live Potter." The feast was over and behind them stood Malfoy and his cronies.  
  
"What do you want?" Adrian stood to face his shorter cousin.  
  
"Just to say hello. What happened Longbottom? Too slow to make train? Too stupid to walk through the portal?"  
  
"Thought you just wanted to say hello." Kat stood up and touched Adrian's arm, ready to pull him back. Draco smirked at her and turned. He left the Great Hall and Neville sighed loudly.  
  
"It'll get better huh?" I shrugged softly as Neville left as well. The others and I followed and we ran into Percy. Kat was more friends with him the rest of us.  
  
"Hi Percy."  
  
"Hello Kat. Have a good summer?"  
  
"Yeah! My parents and I went to France for a couple of weeks."  
  
"Excellent! The new password is 'wattlebird' by the way." We thanked him and went into the portrait to see the a lot of the Gryffindors still in the common room, talking with old friends and congratulating the first years.  
  
"Hey Ron." The tall red haired boy stopped and smiled.  
  
"Hi guys! How were your summers?"  
  
"Fine, Kat was the only one who did something." Harry said, pointing his thumb at the amber-eyed girl.  
  
"I went to France."  
  
"Neat! Hey, this is my little sister Ginny." He hugged her shoulders and she smiled softly at Harry.  
  
"Hello! Adrian Black."  
  
"Kat Lupin."  
  
"Sarah Pettigrew." The girl was cute with the same red hair and freckles as her older brothers. She was shorter than Ron and seemed really shy, smiling only at Harry.  
  
"Harry Potter." She smiled at us again before saying night and heading up to the dorms.  
  
"Quiet." Adrian observed, nodding like a professional.  
  
"She's shy. She usually doesn't shut up." We laughed and separated for the dorms. I smiled as I saw my stuff by my bed from last year.  
  
Kat threw herself onto her own bed and smiled. Our beds were right next to each other and were on either side of the window. The moon's light flowed into the room, bathing everything in a silver glow.  
  
"I hope dad will be okay." I followed her gaze to the almost full moon.  
  
"I'm sure he will be. He always has been before."  
  
"I just worry when I'm not there to make sure." I patted Kat's hand as we started unpacking our school things. Hermione, Lavender and Parvati entered the room as well.  
  
"Hi girls." Lavender laid down on her bed and was ready to go to sleep.  
  
"Hello. Have a good summer?" They all nodded before yawning and pulling their pajamas on. Soon after all of us had fallen asleep.

* * *

"Schedules!" As the teachers passed out schedules, all the Second Year boys continued to yawn.  
  
"Why are you so tired?" Kat asked, her delicate eyebrows raised.  
  
"We didn't get much sleep last night." Adrian yawned out.  
  
"Why? All the girls fell asleep as soon as we got into the dorm." I asked, biting some toast.  
  
"Guy talk." Harry's head fall onto Kat's shoulder and she patted his head.  
  
"Maybe one of the older students will give you some coffee."  
  
"The older students get coffee?" Adrian and Harry looked at Kat in shock through puffy eyes.  
  
"I think so. It might only be a Prefect thing though." [A/N: I don't know if the coffee thing is true, but it seems like some of the older students should be able to have coffee]  
  
"Coffee sounds so nice." Harry looked at his schedule and groaned. "Double Potions with the Slytherins."  
  
"Great." We left after that and headed towards the dungeons sitting in our normal spots, in the middle of the room on the far right.  
  
After that we went to Herbology, and then we had lunch. After that was Transfiguration.  
  
"Now you have to admit. That really wasn't that bad of a first day." Kat smiled at us as we threw our books onto a table in the common room.  
  
"Speak for yourself. You and Hermione were the only two who remembered anything from last year." Adrian grumbled opening his bag and taking out a quill and some ink.  
  
"I thought Neville did well in Potions." I whispered softly, glancing at Adrian.  
  
"You would." I looked at Harry who had his eyes closed and his glasses were pushed up onto his forehead. I felt a small pang of hurt and sadness.  
  
"Harry!" Kat scolded.  
  
"I'm sorry Sarah. Really, I'm just so friggin' tired." I nodded.  
  
"Well go to sleep!" Adrian told him, pushing up and towards the direction of the dorms.  
  
"Right. I'll do that. Night guys."  
  
"Night Harry." He gave a small wave and clopped up the stairs, bag in hand.  
  
"What is with him Adrian?" Kat asked, turning her gaze to Adrian. He shrugged one shoulder.  
  
"I don't know. He's had this 'feeling' that something not good is going to happen. He was moody when we got out stuff for school."  
  
"I hope he's okay." I whispered softly and Kat rubbed my shoulder.  
  
"He'll be fine. Just needs to sleep it off."  
  
"Sleep helps me." I agreed.  
  
"If you two don't stop talking about sleeping, I'll fall sleep right here." Adrian yawns and we laughed.  
  
"You know it is late. Maybe we should all head off to bed." Kat suggested. We nodded and picked up the little homework that we had done (a few written words for each of us) and headed up the stairs where Kat and I slipped in bed.  
  
"I'm sure Harry didn't mean it Sarah."  
  
"I know. It's just he's never said anything like that to anyone."  
  
"I know. He'll be fine." She smiled softly at me and turned on her back, falling asleep soon after. I stared up into the darkness before falling asleep myself.  
  
YES IT'S DONE! This was the hardest thing for me to write! Do you like the first POV better? It made this a lot easier to write after I changed everything from 2nd to 1st so if there's a wrong usage of anything, sorry! 


	9. Disaster and Worries

Again, long wait! I put another story up and I figured how to make quicker submissions. Shorter chapters, so I'm trying with all of my stories to make smaller chapters.  
  
Disclaimer: Not mine  
  
Note: I think I made up a word, but oh well. 'Fumbly'. I like that. Last chapter, it said Chapter One and that was for year one. I cleared that up better this chapter.  
  
The Way It Should Have Been  
  
Story Two, Chapter Two: Disaster and Worries  
  
"Oh sweet Merlin! It's our first Lockhart class!" I squealed, my books spread in front of me, all winking and smiling. Kat snorted as she pulled her books out to.  
  
"I wonder if he's evil like Quirrell was." Adrian whispered to Harry.  
  
"What? How can you think that?" Adrian shrugged at me and Harry only smiled slightly.  
  
"Feel any better Harry?" he nodded as Lockhart burst into the room, his blue robes swirling behind him. I sighed, like the rest of the girls (minus Kat).  
  
"Good morning class! It is your first Defense Against the Dark Arts class this year and I thought I'd ask some questions to see if you've went through your books or not."  
  
"Finally! The man thinks." Kat muttered, sitting higher in her chair as Lockhart passed the papers out. When Kat saw the questions, her face fell.  
  
"What is it Kat?" She handed the tests to Adrian, Harry and myself and we saw what was wrong. They were questions about him. 'How wonderful! A test I should do good on!' Kat groaned. 'And a test Kat won't.'  
  
Thirty minutes later he collected them and of course, Hermione got the best score, earning a gasp throughout the room that Kat didn't.  
  
"That had better not have count as a grade." Harry mumbled under his breath. Neville seemed nervous for some odd reason. He kept fidgeting in his seat in front of us.  
  
"Now that the test is over, we can resume class! I thought that we should try a nice hands-on activity." He brought out a cloaked cage and several of the students sat farther back in their chairs, including me. Kat and Adrian seemed intrigued, but when I couldn't see what it was, I didn't want to know. "I am to teach you against the foulest of all creatures!" He looked around the room, into everyone's eyes. "And I bring you..." I sat farther back and held my breath. Neville was doing the same. "the meanest, the foulest of all creatures." Harry had sat back as well. "Cornish Pixies!" Lockhart exclaimed as he whipped the cloak off.  
  
Inside were a dozen or so blue lights with see-through wings. They had big black eyes and funny stick-like things on their heads. They spoke in high pitched voices that sounded like squeaking.  
  
Adrian and Harry barked out laughter, before quickly covering their mouths. Kat snickered and I sat up again, breathing a lot easier.  
  
"Is there something funny boys?"  
  
"Oh no! It's just that I'm terrified of...pixies." Harry stammered out, trying his hardest to not laugh.  
  
"Yes, professor, pixies are indeed the most frightening and foulest of all creatures we'll encounter." Adrian nodded. But that point, everyone knew they were being sarcastic and Lockhart looked at them disapprovingly.  
  
"Do not mock the pixies. They can be quite the tricky little things and I'd hate it if they broke out of the cage with so much rage."  
  
"What?" Kat proclaimed.  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"They really don't seem all that mad to me." Seamus said, sitting forward.  
  
"They look like blue lights." Lavender added. "What do they do?"  
  
"You know what! I have the perfect idea! Why don't I let you find out for yourselves?" Kat gasped out a feeble "No." as he opened the cage door. The pixies shot out quicker than lightning. I ducked under the desk as they attacked.  
  
'Good going Adrian and Harry! You made them mad!' I saw paper flying everywhere from under the desk and saw a couple of the boys ducked under their desks as well. I peeked out and saw them ripping pages out of books, them spilling ink wells and making the biggest mess I'd ever seen. I saw Lockhart under his desk as well, wand less. After several moments, things had started to calm down as Kat and Hermione got some of the pixies frozen and shoved back into the cage. When the bell rang, we all made a mad dash for the door.  
  
We had lunch next and I noticed that Adrian and Kat weren't with us. "Where'd Kat and Adrian go?"  
  
"Lockhart made them stay and clean up I guess. Hope they don't start snogging or anything." I laughed as Harry and I sat down. "Hey I'm sorry about last night." He spoke after several moments and I shrugged.  
  
"It's okay Harry. Adrian said you'd been having bad feelings." He nodded.  
  
"The extra sleep helped a lot. But now I'm so backtracked on homework!"  
  
"Don't worry. We all are." He laughed.  
  
"I'm surprised Kat is. She's always the first one done with hers."  
  
"I think she did it in bed. She had her curtains drawn, but I saw light coming from her bed when I woke up for a few minutes to get something to drink." He laughed again.  
  
"Wouldn't doubt that for a second." We started eating and halfway through lunch Kat and Adrian showed up.  
  
"I hate him." Adrian wheezed after he chugged a goblet of water.  
  
"He made you two clean up the whole room?" Kat nodded, piling extra food onto her plate.  
  
"I'm starving." They wolfed down their food while Harry and I sat in surprise. Kat was acting odd.  
  
"Hey, Kat. What's wrong?" I asked and she looked up quickly, her eyes wide.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You just seem tense, really worked up. We haven't even been in school for a week and you're acting like it's exam time." She laughed and calmed down a lot.  
  
"Nothing, forget it." She looked at her watch and gasped. "Hey, I have to go meet someone. I'll see you after lunch." She hurried away and Harry shook his head.  
  
"Probably asking a teacher for more homework."  
  
"What? She didn't finish hers last night!"  
  
"I saw her late last night. Her curtains were drawn but there was light coming form the corners." I explained to him.  
  
"Kat's acting weird, Neville's acting weird, Harry's freaked out. What next?" Harry snorted and threw a piece of break at Adrian and it landed in his goblet.  
  
"Ah, Harry!" I laughed as Adrian tried to fish the bread out and for the first time, I noticed Neville wasn't at lunch. 'What is wrong with him?' Neville and I had gotten along really well the last year, both being kind of fumbly with all our classes (well Neville is doing good in Herbology, but I have yet to find my class), being over-weight and taken as not-so- bright. I felt hurt that he wasn't talking to me and instead he had gone to Kat, if that was who she was meeting.  
  
After our last class for the day (History of Magic with Professor Binns) I questioned Kat. "Who did you meet?"  
  
"Neville, he needed help with ..." she paused, thinking. "homework." I nodded, acting like I believed her. 'I will find out why they met.' I thought.  
  
Later while sitting in the common room, finishing our homework from last night (Kat had done a lot of it, but not all of it) and tonight's homework I looked for Neville to talk to. He was sitting alone in a corner. I finished and went to talk to him.  
  
"Hi Neville." I breathed out. Neville was the greatest thing, greater than Dumbledore, Merlin and Lockhart put together as far as I'm concerned. I practically worship You-know-who's defeater.  
  
"Hi Sarah." He yawned.  
  
"Can I sit?" He nodded and patted the ground next to him. I sat down and smiled. After a few moments of silence he talked again. "Was there something you wanted to talk about?"  
  
"It's just...that-well...I noticed..." I fumbled. "I noticed that you've seemed edgy over the last few days and I was wondering if you wanted to talk about it?" He looked up from the book he was reading and looked into my eyes. I gulped, feeling my face turn bright red and butterflies started flying.  
  
"Thanks Sarah. It's good to know that someone cares about me." I sat there for several seconds. 'What about Kat?' "But I'm too tired to talk. How about we meet tomorrow during break?"  
  
"No problem Neville. That's what friends are for." He nodded happily and stood up. He held his hand out to me and I took it. We smiled bashfully.  
  
"I'm going to go to bed. I'm pretty tired from dodging those pixies. They really were scary." We laughed and I told him good night before sitting back down with the others.  
  
"OOOHHH! Neville and Sarah." Adrian teased.  
  
"Stop. I just wanted to see what was wrong."  
  
"Sure." Harry nodded. Kat smiled secretly at me and winked, before ducking her head down to finish reading the page of her book.  
  
"I'm going to bed you guys. Good night." I stood up.  
  
"Wait. I'm tired too. I'll come up with you." Kat packed her stuff into her bag and we said night to the guys before heading to the dorms for bed.  
  
Yeah another chapter. It was short...er than the rest. That's what I'm going for. Yeah, please review! 


	10. Something Is Wrong With Her

Okay, I'm updating a lot faster than I have been.  
  
Disclaimer: Not mine.  
  
Lots of thanks to Magic Crystal Rose for reviewing. You gave me a great idea for the story. Lots of love to you.  
  
The Way It Should Have Been  
  
Story Two, Chapter Three: Something Is Wrong With Her  
  
I was nervous about talking to Neville. I couldn't concentrate on any of my classes, I failed a test when had in Transfiguration, I blew up my potion in Potions, it was a mess! I was happy when it was break.  
  
We met in the library, finding a quiet, hidden corner. We sat there for several moments, not speaking.  
  
"So..." I started. He nodded.  
  
"Yeah. Listen," he paused and laughed softly. "You're going to think I'm bonkers."  
  
"No I won't." I answered gently.  
  
"I'm being stalked by a house elf."  
  
"What?" Maybe he was a little crazy.  
  
"A house elf named Dobby."  
  
"Neville, are you sure you're feeling alright?" I was concerned. A house elf? They weren't allowed to leave their masters houses.  
  
"I knew this sounds crazy Sarah, but it's true. Two weeks before school started he appeared in my bedroom and told I couldn't go to Hogwarts. Something is going to happen Sarah, something real bad." He paused and looked at me. "And now Kat's acting odd and I think it has something to do with what's going to happen."  
  
"She met with you yesterday didn't she?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"What did you two do?"  
  
"She helped me with my homework, but I was trying to get some sort of information out of her. It didn't work." I sighed, relived but guilty too.  
  
"Neville, when she met with you yesterday, I was jealous. I thought that you were going to her to talk, not me. And I questioned her. She paused when she said homework and I figured I was right. I'm sorry."  
  
"Oh Sarah." He smiled and placed his hand on mine. "Kat is a great friend, but you were my first friend at Hogwarts. No one could replace you. I'll always come to you for help." We smiled softly at one another, blushing. He glanced at his watch. "Oh! Break is almost over. We'd better head to class." We gathered out books and headed to the Charms classroom. Halfway there, Neville grabbed my hand and held it until we reached the door and went in.  
  
Adrian and Harry were there already. "Where's Kat?" I asked, sitting next to them. Neville sat next to me and Adrian saved a seat by him for Kat.  
  
"Don't know. She left after you did Sarah. Haven't seen her since. Oh hi Kat." Kat ran into the room and sat down. Her hair was a mess and she looked really upset. Adrian patted her arm. "You okay?"  
  
"Fine why?" I glanced at Neville and he looked suspicious.  
  
"You've been acting weird lately." Neville said, pulling parchment out of his bag.  
  
"No I haven't." Harry muttered something before Flitwick started class. When class was over, Neville and I tried to talk to Kat, but she said she had to do something and left in a really big hurry.  
  
"Merlin, she is acting weird. She won't even joke around with me anymore." Adrian pouted, crossing his arms.  
  
"Neville and I will try to find out what's wrong, but I don't know how well it will go. She won't really talk to anyone." Harry nodded.  
  
"We have to find out what's wrong." After we entered the common room, we grabbed a few chairs by the fire and started our homework.  
  
"Now when did this all start?" I chewed on the end of my quill. We weren't doing homework as much as worrying what was wrong with Kat.  
  
"Almost immediately after school started. After Lockhart's class!" Adrian exclaimed.  
  
"Could the fact that she didn't ace the test have anything to do with this?" Neville asked him.  
  
"Yes. It could actually."  
  
"How?" I asked Adrian.  
  
"It's the only thing that makes sense."  
  
"Where'd she go anyway?" Harry asked me. I shrugged.  
  
"I'll check the dorm." I stood and walked to our dorm room. She was sitting on her bed, writing something.  
  
"Kat!" She jumped and looked up at me, her eyes wide in fear. "What's wrong? We've been looking for you everywhere."  
  
"Nothing. Just writing." I looked at the book she was writing in, but didn't see anything.  
  
"Uh...you are?"  
  
"Yes. What do you want?"  
  
"Jeez, Kat. We're worried about you, you don't have to be so mean about it." I turned to walk out the door, when I heard the book being shut.  
  
"What Sarah. I'm sorry. It's this journal." She held it out to me to see.  
  
"What's so weird about it? It's a journal." Her eyes lit up with excitement.  
  
"You're right. It is just a journal."  
  
"Yeah, that's what I just said."  
  
"I love your naivety." I nodded, not understanding. She smiled at me, gathered the journal up and disappeared out of the door. I followed her after several moments, seeing the guys sitting there. Kat was no where to be found.  
  
"So Sarah. What'd did you say to her? She bounced down here, exclaimed something about a book and your wonderful naivety and disappeared out of the common room." Harry told me. I shrugged and sat down next to Neville.  
  
"I don't know. All I said was 'It's just a journal' and she got all excited. I think she's losing it." They nodded and we continued our homework. Kat appeared awhile after we were done, a lot happier and acting a lot more normal.  
  
"Thank you again Sarah. I think I'm better now." She smiled at me sweetly.  
  
"Sure thing Kat! Anytime." Neville smiled at me and I returned it. 'There is something wrong with her.' I thought.  
  
Okay, another chapter done. YEAH! I'm enjoying this year a lot at the moment. Review! 


	11. Attack

Second year is going pretty cool for me.  
  
Disclaimer: Not mine.  
  
Thanks for reviewing.  
  
The Way It Should Have Been  
  
Story Two, Chapter Four: Attack  
  
It was now Halloween. Neville pretty much spent all his time with us, we didn't mind. Kat had returned to normal, but Dobby kept talking to Neville.  
  
"He won't leave me alone!"  
  
"Have you tried telling him to go away?" Kat asked. He told Harry, Adrian and Kat a few days after the journal incident ended.  
  
"Yes. He just keeps going on, talking about some evil thing coming."  
  
"When does he come?"  
  
"At night."  
  
"Into the dorms?" Adrian looked at him, his lunch forgotten. Neville nodded.  
  
"Wake us up! We'll get him to go leave, right Harry?" Harry laughed feebly.  
  
"Oh no! Now you're acting weird!" Adrian cried, his head falling onto his arms.  
  
"No, I'm worried. Usually Ginny and Collin bug Neville and I, but only Collin's been flashing pictures." We looked to the area where the Weasley family sat. It looked like that part of the table was on fire, with the five red heads sitting by each other.  
  
"Ginny's fine. She's just tired. They're giving the first years a lot of homework." Kat said.  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"Percy." She simply answered, shrugging at Adrian.  
  
"Of course. I wonder if he can suggest who should be a Prefect. You'd be on top of his list."  
  
"He can't." Adrian sighed, defeated and we laughed. It was Friday and we had the afternoon off like usual. Halloween was tomorrow night and they had already decorated the Great Hall with floating pumpkins.  
  
In the weeks we had been at school, we visited Hagrid every Saturday after Harry finished Quidditch practice and we did our homework every night, because now no one was acting weird. We had better have a good Halloween.  
  
Halloween morning came with much excitement. It smelled better than it did last year. We go outside to sit by the lake under the tree.  
  
"Nice day." The water was really blue, and most of the leaves had fallen off onto the ground. There weren't any clouds and there was a nice settle breeze.  
  
"Yep." Kat agreed with me. She was writing something for our homework assignment in DADA.  
  
"Kat, put the quill down and lay on the ground." Adrian told her.  
  
"I want this stupid homework done. It's so pointless! We haven't learned anything in DADA except that Lockhart is a complete egotistical idiot who likes to prove how egotistical and how much of an idiot he really is!" She fumed. Adrian looked at her with wide eyes.  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
"Fine. Just a feeling."  
  
"Feelings aren't everything. Besides, that's what you said about the journal thing. And something was very wrong with you."  
  
"I don't know you guys. I feel funny too." Harry admitted, sitting up next to her.  
  
"I'm fine." I say. Adrian nodded.  
  
"How about you Neville?" He shrugged at us.  
  
"I don't know. I feel fine, I guess. Nothing's happened."  
  
"Yet." Kat added.  
  
"Adrian's right. Feelings aren't everything." He finished.  
  
"I believe in my feelings. Something is going to happen, soon." Kat said, standing up. "I'm going in. It's almost time for the feast and it's getting chilly." We all got up and headed to the Great Hall where some of the students are sitting already.  
  
Hagrid smiled and waved at us from the teacher's table. All the staff is there already and soon the whole school is enjoying the delicious feast. We finish first and leave, planning to do some homework. Kat is the only one ahead, as usual.  
  
While we walk, Neville grabbed my arm. "What?" I asked him.  
  
"I heard a voice."  
  
"Probably one of ours." Adrian joked.  
  
"No, it sounded far away."  
  
"It was an echo Neville." Kat reassured him. He shook his head.  
  
"I heard it again." He looked up at the ceiling and we followed his gaze. He started to move down the hall, us at his heels. We followed him for a few minutes until we reached the second floor girl's bathroom.  
  
"Oh sweet Merlin!" Kat gasped, her hand raised to her throat. Adrian held her hand as she closed her eyes. There was a large pool of water and a message in blood on the hall: THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS IS OPENED, AGAIN.  
  
"The what?" Harry asked, moving closer to the wall. Underneath the message was Mrs. Norris's body.  
  
"Is it dead?" Neville asked. Harry shook his head.  
  
"I can't tell."  
  
"What is going on?" We jumped and spun around come face to face with a lot of students. The feast was over apparently. Percy stared at the message before ordering someone to get a teacher.  
  
"YOU'RE NEXT MUDBLOODS!" Draco shouted, his voice ringing through the hall. Everyone turned and stared at him surrounded by all of the other Slytherins, large evil grins plastered on their faces.  
  
"Sod off Malfoy!" Adrian snarled, taking a step forward, but Harry grabbed his arm. Kat still looks horrified.  
  
"Make way!" Several teachers pushed their way through and gasped when they saw the message and Mrs. Norris.  
  
"We found it like this!" Neville said, looking around at the students.  
  
"Get the students to their dorms. You five follow me." We nodded and followed McGonagall away from the site. "What happened?"  
  
"We were walking and found it like that." Neville said. We didn't mention the voice.  
  
"Did you see anyone?" We shook our heads, confused and tired. In shock, too. "Very well. You may go back to the common room." We rushed off.  
  
"What is the Chamber of Secrets?" I asked Kat.  
  
"I don't know." She sighed heavily and we entered the common room.  
  
"Probably something inside of Hogwarts." Adrian suggested.  
  
"But it's been opened before. Wouldn't some Hogwarts book have something about it in it?" Neville pointed out.  
  
"He's right. Maybe we could look for it in the library." Kat nodded.  
  
"We need to finish our homework first. We'll look tomorrow." We nodded and separated to get our books.  
  
"Kat?"  
  
"I'm fine. It's just, this is a shock!" She looked at me and I hugged her.  
  
"Don't worry. Everything will end up okay."  
  
"Maybe dad will know something. I'll owl him tomorrow."  
  
"Good idea." We finished our homework, then went to bed.  
  
We didn't find anything in the library and we decided to ask a teacher. When we got into History of Magic, Kat asked our ghost teacher about it.  
  
"It's a legend."  
  
"But it's been opened before. It said so."  
  
"The four founders of Hogwarts: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin founded the school over a thousand years ago. Supposedly, Salazar left because we wanted a more careful selection of students, but the others disagreed. Now, right before he left, he created the Chamber of Secrets and put something horrific inside. Something that only he could control."  
  
"What is it?" Ron asked.  
  
"We don't know. No trace has ever been found of it."  
  
"How was it opened?" Hermione asked this time. He looked slightly upset.  
  
"Only the Heir of Slytherin can open the chamber."  
  
"The Heir of Slytherin is at Hogwarts?" I gasped out. Neville looked nervous too.  
  
"He supposedly was fifty years ago when it was "opened" the first time. But they caught the one responsible, it was a large hoax and it was a real monster the person let loose. It was found and that was the end of that. It wasn't even found to be real the first time. Now may we return to fact? This chamber does not exist, nor is there any shred of truth that suggests it does."  
  
"Fifty years ago?" Kat sighed heavily after class. "Guess dad won't know about it after all."  
  
"We'll find something. We have to." Harry reassured her. She nodded and rested her head on Adrian's shoulder. "I'm tired."  
  
"We have two more classes."  
  
"I know. I'll sleep in Lockhart's class."  
  
I'm changing things around a bit. They knew it was opened before and when it was. Review please. 


End file.
